LIVE RECORDINGS

It is often confusingly assumed that studio recordings (of classical music) are “more perfect” than recordings of live performances. I will agree with this assumption, but only as long my derisive use of the phrase “more perfect” has not been horribly mistaken for a synonym of “better.”

In fact, I find all studio recordings-- even the best of them-- demonstrably inferior to live recordings, where the presence of the audience is intensely felt, with its breathing, coughs, and sneezes, as well as its spontaneous reaction to the actual performance via applause, exclamations, and other emotional outbursts.

In my young years, I was raised on lterally live performances. For a while, I couldn’t even imagine listening to good music without being part of the audience. But there was an even better, aesthetical, reason to feel that way. I cannot imagine a musician of genius to be inspired by a studio recording. There is always something fake in “faking it” before a soulless mike. Just as a musical work of genius requires a performance of genius, to do it justice, so does the third ingredient in this wonderful recipe insist on being present. A live audience is, indeed, an absolute must, both for any performer’s artistic inspiration, and for the listener’s aesthetic appreciation.

…I am always so mad at the recorders of live performances for habitually cutting out much of the audience reaction to, and interaction with, the performance, and especially the essential part of the audience applause, which must be regarded as vital, just like the physiological necessity of respiration, for any living organism.