Technology and the Symphony - Recordings, Radio and Television

Victor Records by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

source: San Francisco Symphony programs, 1929-1930, p. 786

The Victor Talking Machine Company contracted with the San Francisco Symphony in 1924 to produce 78 rpm discs. Between 1925 and 1928 the Symphony recorded 19 works. Alfred Hertz and the Symphony recorded with Victor during a period when recording techniques were still developing. The earliest recordings were “acoustic,” meaning that they were done without benefit of microphone or amplifier. The later “electric” recordings were also hampered by the short duration of these recordings--each side could contain a maximum of 4 ½ minutes of sound--necessitating carefully planning to divide longer classical works into sensible portions. There were also questions of how many musicians they should engage in order to guarantee the correct balance and timbre on the recordings.

Standard Hour broadcast, Program for Thursday Evening March 13, 1930

source: San Francisco Symphony programs, 1929-1930

In 1926 the San Francisco Symphony became the first orchestra to be broadcast live on the radio on the West coast. The Symphony originally attempted to fund these broadcasts through audience subscription, but was only able to realize these programs with substantial financial assistance from the Standard Oil Company. The initial performance was broadcast on October 24, 1926 from the Curran Theatre over the Pacific Network of NBC, and locally on KGO and KPO (today’s KNBR). The orchestra's performance was picked up by microphones and sent over telephone wires to the local stations, as well as to KFI in Los Angeles. Live radio also required the orchestra to carefully consider its time allotment in order to allow time for its performance and on-air program notes. This early foray was well-received and ultimately resulted in the weekly Standard Hour programs that continued into the 1950s.

A Special Concert for the Orchestra's Pension and Endowment Funds Source: San Francisco Programs. Music, 1955-1956

On March 3, 1956 the Symphony engaged in a “musical experiment” sponsored by the Ampex Corporation with a tape recorder. This performance, benefiting the musicians’ pension fund, featured live performance as well as the orchestra playing in silent synchronization with the tape.

Channel 7 Proudly Presents the Premiere Television Concert of the San Francisco Symphony Source: San Francisco Symphony programs, 1961-1962

During the San Francisco Symphony’s 50th anniversary season, they made their first television appearance on KGO on February 10, 1962. That season they also appeared in a documentary broadcast by KRON.

The technologies of radio, television, and recording continue to be used by the Symphony and today are enhanced by the worldwide reach of the Worldwide Web.

The two San Francisco Symphony centennial exhibits at the Main Library will be coming to a close within the next couple of days. Don't forget to see them while you can.

Resources:

From the Archives: An Audio History of the San Francisco Symphony, a twelve episode series of podcasts from the San Francisco Symphony website.

Music For a City, Music for the World: 100 Years with the San Francisco Symphony (Chronicle Books, 2011)

San Francisco Symphony [programs] (San Francisco Symphony Association, 1911-1969).

San Francisco Programs. Music (San Francisco Public Library, 1850-1926; 1943-1956).

San Francisco Symphony Discography [.pdf] from the San Francisco Symphony website (n.d.).

San Francisco Symphony Youtube channel.

SFS Media [webpage] from the San Francisco Symphony website.

A Player Piano at the Symphony

The Duo-Art piano taking Harold Bauer's place as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Alfred Hertz conductor, at the regular symphony concerts, Curran Theatre, San Francisco, Friday, January 31st and Sunday, February 2nd

image source: Alfred Metzger, "Bauer's recording of Saint-Saens Concerto on Duo-Art piano creates a big sensation," Pacific Coast Musical Review vol. 35, no. 19 (February 8, 1919), p. 1

Although it is institution that fosters and sustains a classical tradition, over the years the symphony orchestra has also adapted to technological innovation. The twentieth century brought the San Francisco Symphony into contact with many such changes, some that were fleeting, others having long-lasting implications.

One early experiment tried by the Symphony was the use of a player piano as a soloist under the auspices of the Aeolian Company. The audience at the January 31, 1919 performance of the Symphony witnessed a piano without a bench or pianist render the solo part of Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto in G minor as performed by Harold Bauer on a Duo-Art piano roll. While piano rolls are considered archaic today, they were a popular alternative to sound recordings on disc and cylinder during the early 20th century. The sonic fidelity of such recordings would be far superior to disc recordings for many years.

To get a sense of the event, we can read the account of Alfred Metzger, the exacting music critic of the Pacific Coast Musical Review.

Surely we have arrived at an astounding epoch of the world's musical history when a conscientious music critic can review with all sincerity the performance of a piano concerto, at a legitimate symphony concert, under the direction of one of the world's greatest symphony conductors, when the soloist of the occasion was none other than a so-called mechanical instrument.

Metzger was impressed with the how much of the performer’s personal style he could recognize in this reproduction.

If you have ever heard Harold Bauer interpret any composition ... and your sense of observation is sufficiently developed to retain impressions accurately in your mind, you will at once recognize Mr. Bauer's individual style of performance the moment the Duo-Art impersonates the great piano virtuoso. There is, above all, the firm, solid touch whose dignity and deliberation is so well known to the musical public. Then you hear that rippling, clear and almost more than human accuracy of technic also accentuated with that firmness and solidity with which Mr. Bauer invests all his readings.

He also was aware of the potential of musical recording -- that it could create an ideal, possibly impossible standard of performance through the ability to make repeated takes and edit a performance. Metzger continues:

It might here be added that this Bauer record on the Duo-Art piano possesses even a greater artistic value in some respects than Mr. Bauer's own performance, or it reveals a perfection of technical execution which a mere human being could not possibly retain. Mr. Bauer has been able to edit and re-edit this record until he has attained in it the utmost accuracy as to technical perfection.

In his review he also heaped praise upon conductor Alfred Hertz for his sensitivity in follow the subtle fluctuations of tempo of Bauer’s performance.

Looking back on this event, it’s fairly safe to say that it was a publicity stunt, albeit one with high artistic standards. This is belied by the Aeolian Company’s advertisement in the Metzger’s Pacific Coast Musical Review directing his readers to Sherman, Clay & Company to buy their own Duo-Art piano with accompanying piano rolls. It also seems that this was the first and only time that the San Francisco Symphony has welcomed a player piano to the stage as a solo instrument.

image source: Alfred Metzger, "Bauer's recording of Saint-Saens Concerto on Duo-Art piano...," p. 2.

Nevertheless, for a time these mechanical instruments were widely viewed as a way to elevate the standard of music appreciation. This is evidenced by volumes The Appreciation of Music by Means of the 'Pianola' and 'Duo-art' (1925) by musical journalist and scholar Percy Scholes and The Piano-player and its Music (1920) by musicologist Ernest Newman.


Harold Bauer plays Saint Saens 2nd piano concerto, 2nd movement, Allegro scherzando


Harold Bauer plays Saint Saens 2nd piano concerto, 3rd movement, Presto

These Youtube videos recreate some of the sensation that these piano roll recordings provided to an audience. It's almost as if Mr. Bauer is an apparition summoned to our time, performing as he did on that evening of January 31, 1919.

Don't forget to visit the two library exhibits celebrating the San Francisco Symphony centennial before they close on January 9, 2012!

Further reading:

The Appreciation of Music by Means of the 'Pianola' and 'Duo-art': A Course of Lectures Delivered at Aeolian Hall, London by Percy Alfred Scholes (1925).

Duo-Art Piano Music: A Classified Catalog of Interpretations of the World's Best Music Recorded by More than Two Hundred and Fifty Pianists for the Duo-Art Reproducing Piano (The Aeolian Co., 1927).

The Piano-Player and its Music by Ernest Newman (G. Richards, Ltd., 1920).

Player Piano Treasury; The Scrapbook History of the Mechanical Piano in America as Told in Story, Pictures, Trade Journal Articles and Advertising by Harvey N. Roehl (Vestal Press, 1962).

Alfred Metzger, "Bauer's recording of Saint-Saens Concerto on Duo-Art piano creates a big sensation," Pacific Coast Musical Review vol. 35, no. 19 (February 8, 1919), 1-2 [available as a scanned document at Archive.org]

We also have a phonodisc of Alfred Cortot featuring "a re-enacted performance from Steinway Duo-Art reproducing piano":

Alfred Cortot plays concert I [sound recording] (Klavier Records, 1974).

"Handprinted posters are colorful memories of San Francisco concerts"

photograph by Bonnie Eva Chan / image source: The Guardsman.com

If you're a fan of rock poster art, don't neglect to come the 4th floor of the San Francisco Public Library's Main Library. High Volume: Rock Art from the Chuck Sperry Archive and Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster Series will remain on display through January 6, 2012.

For a review of the exhibit you can read Lulu Orozco's article "Handprinted posters are colorful memories of San Francisco concerts" published in the December 6, 2011 issue of the Guardsman, the newspaper of the City College of San Francisco.


Earlier blog entry:

High Volume: Rock Art From The Chuck Sperry Archive and Firehouse Goldenvoice Poster Series (October 11, 2011)

John King at the Library: Cityscapes - San Francisco and Its Buildings

Cityscapes: San Francisco and its Buildings, is a handsome, new, pocket-size book by John King, columnist and urban critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Cityscapes is a collection of columns in which he comments, in vivid prose, on the state of the city’s urban environment and the efforts made to update, renew and expand it.

King has been an astute observer of the Bay Area’s architecture scene for a number of years. While he may touch, in passing, on some of the City’s iconic structures, mostly he talks about regular, ordinary buildings, buildings that are so familiar that they have slipped from conscious awareness unless a special feature is pointed out or they are in the news in the context of new construction. But it is the City's unique structures, here and there, that by good fortune have been saved from the wrecker’s ball, that draw his special attention.

He reminds us of some of the small urban oases that dot the city in unexpected places. Buildings of different styles and periods, or buildings and a unique natural setting come together to create small enclaves that please the eye and nurture the spirit. Four small, connected cottages, white stucco and dark bays, that could have been plucked from Carmel and deposited on top of Russian Hill make just such a place. There, amid shrubbery and bougainvillea, they sit, through some alchemy of topography and space and light, in serene harmony with the residential tower with which they share a brick alley.

And then there is the magic of color. He observes how some dismal, depressing high rise apartments for seniors were totally changed by rectangles in soft blue and ocher that highlighted architectural details. The moody, grey monoliths were transformed into domiciles that project liveliness, energy and cheerfulness.

In some ways, Cityscapes is probably a guide book. It’s a guide that shows how a lively, energetic, modern city comes to terms with new needs through progress and renewal. It demonstrates how, in San Francisco, the past integrates with the present and allows for change in the future. And it opens our eyes and makes us appreciate the vibrant, architectural kaleidoscope that is San Francisco.

John King will talk about Cityscapes: San Francisco and its Buildings in the San Francisco Public Library’s Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room on December 14, 6:15 PM. This program is supported by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. All Library programs are free and open to the public.

Cityscapes: San Francisco and its Buildings by John King (Heyday, 2011).

Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony: Their Stories and Music

This panel discussion features members of the San Francisco Symphony who share their unique perspectives on life as a member of a world-class orchestra and perform chamber music selections. Participating musicians include: Catherine Payne, flute/piccolo; Robin Sutherland, piano; Jessica Valeri, horn and Mark Volkert, violin.

This program will take place on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 6 PM in the Koret Auditorium in the Main Library's Lower Level. All library programs are free and open to the public.

Come early to hear San Francisco Symphony Archivist Joe Evans lead a curator talk and walk-through of the related exhibition in the Jewett Gallery at 5 p.m.

For related reading see The San Francisco Symphony: Music, Maestros, and Musicians by retired Symphony violinist David Schneider.

The San Francisco Symphony: Music, Maestros, and Musicians by David Schneider; foreword by Edo de Waart (Presidio Press, 1983).

Happy Birthday San Francisco Symphony!

Source: San Francisco Orchestra programs, 1st-3rd seasons, 1911-1914

Let's all hoist a glass -- metaphorical or actual, as you please -- to the San Francisco Symphony to celebrate their 100th birthday! At 3:30 PM on Friday, December 8, 1911, Henry Hadley raised his baton to conduct the Meistersinger Overture by Richard Wagner and the music continues. Today the Library celebrated the Symphony's Centennial with 146 viewers who came to the Koret Auditorium to watch the Symphony's Keeping Score video program Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

We continue to have two Symphony-related exhibits on display through January 9, 2012. Music for a City, Music for the World in the Jewett Gallery on the Library's Lower Level was curated by the Symphony itself and features many photographs and artifacts illustrating the Symphony's history. The San Francisco Symphony in the Library’s Collections in the Steve Silver Beach Blanket Babylon Music Center on the 4th floor was created by Library staff and draws upon the Library's books and files.

Join Thomas Hampson and Michael Tilson Thomas in singing "Happy Birthday" to the Symphony!

Keeping Score: Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique

Portrait of Hector Berlioz by Émile Signol (source: Wikimedia Commons)

This Thursday's noon film will be Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (2009) from the San Francisco Symphony's award winning documentary film series Keeping Score.

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony explore this orchestral sonic spectacular as they follow Hector Berlioz to the brink and beyond in this one-hour documentary film. This is followed by a 56 minute filmed concert performance of the work by the Symphony.

This documentary will be screened at 12 noon, Thursday, December 8 in the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library's Main Library.

All library programs are free and open to the public. This program has received support from the Friends of San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco Symphony.

Further reading:

First Nights by Thomas Forrest Kelly devotes a lengthy chapter to the circumstances surrounding Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and its premiere on December 5, 1830 (181 years ago today).

The Norton Critical Score of the Fantastic Symphony, edited by Edward T. Cone, includes historical background, musical analysis, critical reception and a bibliography for the work.


Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique produced and directed by David Kennard and Joan Saffa (SFS Media, 2009).

Fantastic Symphony: An Authoritative Score, Historical Background, Analysis, Views and Comments; edited by Edward T. Cone (W.W. Norton, 1971).

First Nights: Five Musical Premieres by Thomas Forrest Kelly (Yale University Press, 2000).