Tinny sound accompanying cello on recordings ?


I'm somewhat baffled by an on and off tinny sound I've heard on several recordings of Dvorak's Cello Concerto. Up until a few years ago, I either didn't hear it or didn't notice it. The more revealing the sound system, the more obvious is this phenomenon. At first, I thought something was wrong with my speaker drivers, but when I listened through other transducers, I noticed the sound was still there. I proceeded to isolate the rest of my equipment, but the rather unwelcome "guest" remained. It didn't matter whether I used the same recordings with a cd player or a phono front end, things didn't vary. I listened to identical passages of the Dvorak Concerto with Fourier/Szell and Harrell/Levine. I haven't yet bothered to check other cello recordings. This tinny/sizzling sound is a shadow-like resonance hovering around the cello's notes as they are being played, asserting its presence more frequently, it seems, from the mid to upper midrange. I assume some of you classical fans have heard this. Can anyone explain exactly what's going on here ? By the way, I hear it also (though less obviously because of the much smaller sized sound system) when watching and listening to the same piece performed by Rostropovich on You Tube with my computer and its little Altec speakers. Listen in particular to the first movement from the time the cello enters, and onward.
opus88

Showing 4 responses by chashmal

Dude, listen carefully to a live cello. Those strings make all kinds of vibratory resonances and some are very very subtle. The fact that your gear is picking it up is a good thing. The complexities of the sound of such an instrument are staggering. I have noticed all kinds of strange unexpected overtones on trumpets and other instruments too.
Guidocorona makes a good point about miking, which is one thing I love about recordings: the intimacy. Impossible to get that in a large hall all the way back.

Listen to the way Jordi Savall's solo gamba is miked. Really close, and tons of exactly what you described. I think you will come to love it as part of the richness of the instrument once the weirdness plays out for you.

By the way, Starker is one of my all time favorites for Bach solo cello. Casals maybe beats him out though:).
In regard to all this it is interesting to see how the historical shift from viol/gamba to cello/violin changes those idiosyncratic string resonances. It gives a totally different set of variables and 'extra' sounds.

Mental strings versus gut strings are TOTALLY different, as the string players above can attest to. It is always great to sit down and compare are 17th century consort of viols to a modern chamber ensemble playing the same piece. Easy to find with Bach, Purcell, Vivaldi, or even Couperin.