Inside the Recording Studio: Working with Callas, Rostropovich, Domingo and the Classical Elite (review)

The role of the record producer was for many years a nebulous concept. For the first half of the twentieth century, the job was primarily one of scheduling and organizing the sessions followed by making sure that all went smoothly in the studio. With the advent of recording onto tape and the ability to edit and splice various takes together to create a "perfect" recording, the job of the record producer became nearly as important as the performers themselves. Peter Andry has joined the ranks of producers who have given us a look at their work and the relationship between performer and recording producer. John Culshaw, of Decca, gave opera lovers the first glimpse into this profession in his two books Ring Resounding (New York: Viking Press, 1967) and Putting the Record Straight (New York: Viking Press, 1981). Suvi Raj Grubb wrote Music Makers on Record (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1986) detailing his time as a producer for EMI. Peter Andry, unlike his afore-mentioned colleagues, had very important careers with both of these recording companies. Like his predecessors, Andry has been discreet, and he continues the practice of the record producer in never embarrassing a performer. This is a task which these gentlemen try to fulfill; however if the reader is familiar with the music industry it is often possible to discern the identity of the unnamed performer.

The story of Andry's career is told in terms of various important performers. Each chapter is titled for a performer or group of related performers. The chapters are almost separate essays and occasionally the same anecdote will appear in two separate chapters. It is interesting to compare Andry's relationship with Otto Klemperer or Daniel Barenboim with Grubb's relationship to the same gentlemen. Andry is less discrete in regards to some of the tricks of the trade such as splicing in a single note from another take within that series of recording sessions or over-dubbing, the art of adding a performance to one that was previously recorded. This happens most often in opera recordings where there is little chance of reassembling all of the soloists, chorus, orchestra and conductor to rerecord a passage in which one of the performers had a sore throat or for some other reason was not available to complete the recording. It is interesting and informative to read the reasons given for questionable casting decisions or the genesis of the Yehudi Menuhin/Ravi Shankar disc entitled "West meets East" (Angel 36418 [1967]).

There are a few errors which have crept into the text. The succession of conductors for the Chicago Symphony is Rodzinski, Kubelik, Reiner; not Reiner, Rodzinski, Kubelik (p. 114). Eugene Ormandy's tenure as principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra ran forty-four years, not ten years (p. 118). The anecdote regarding Vladimir Horowitz and Herbert von Karajan in a performance of the Beethoven piano concerto no. 1 at Berlin does not ring true to me (p. 152). I have found no references to Horowitz performing that particular Beethoven concerto, and the Horowitz Archives at Yale University does not indicate Horowitz even had a score for that work in his music library.

In comparison with the memoirs by other record producers, Inside the recording studio is remarkably honest about the problems which occur and also the exultation a major project is brought to fruition with all of the participants completely at peace with the final product. As with any music lover, I wish that more time had been spent discussing my favorite artists but no volume could hold all of the history each reader would like to find. I highly recommend this title for any library which has a large collection of recordings, as I found myself going back to listen again and again to performances that were being discussed.