When the Wigmore Hall Live label was launched in 2005, the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson had only a few months to live: She died of breast cancer in July 2006, age 52. The hunt for lost recordings to memorialize her artistry led directly to her November 30, 1998, Wigmore Hall recital, broadcast that day as part of BBC Radio 3's Noonday Concert series and preserved in the BBC archives. That recital was released on the Wigmore Hall Live label on January 1, 2007, six months after Hunt Lieberson's passing.
How is it that an archival broadcast recording became a widely adored audiophile favorite? I was ready to credit Tony Faulkner, the mastering engineer, but first I thought I'd write and ask him. "I would have done no significant interventions in mastering for Wigmore Live," he wrote in his reply. "Just checking overall peak level, managing applause, removal of continuity talk from the presenter, repairing any digital zits, and logging cue points for the individual tracks. ... The beauty of the recording is down to three things. Lorraine sang like an angel with no artificial mannerisms. Roger Vignoles is a very sensitive accompanist. The engineer wisely let the performances speak for themselves with the minimum of intervention. The acoustic in Wigmore Hall is good for recitals like this, and the engineer spared us the 21st century misery of adding digital reverb willy nilly to make it sound as though it had been recorded in an Olympic swimming pool. The engineer deserves praise for letting the music speak and staying out of the way."
Who was this virtuous engineer, uncredited as so many have been over time? The list of candidates should include John Thorne and Stephen Rinker, but in my research, Tracy Ross emerged as the favorite. All are, or were, BBC staff engineers at the time.—Jim Austin
CH Precision M10 monoblock power amplifier Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Live
When the Wigmore Hall Live label was launched in 2005, the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson had only a few months to live: She died of breast cancer in July 2006, age 52. The hunt for lost recordings to memorialize her artistry led directly to her November 30, 1998, Wigmore Hall recital, broadcast that day as part of BBC Radio 3's Noonday Concert series and preserved in the BBC archives. That recital was released on the Wigmore Hall Live label on January 1, 2007, six months after Hunt Lieberson's passing.
How is it that an archival broadcast recording became a widely adored audiophile favorite? I was ready to credit Tony Faulkner, the mastering engineer, but first I thought I'd write and ask him. "I would have done no significant interventions in mastering for Wigmore Live," he wrote in his reply. "Just checking overall peak level, managing applause, removal of continuity talk from the presenter, repairing any digital zits, and logging cue points for the individual tracks. ... The beauty of the recording is down to three things. Lorraine sang like an angel with no artificial mannerisms. Roger Vignoles is a very sensitive accompanist. The engineer wisely let the performances speak for themselves with the minimum of intervention. The acoustic in Wigmore Hall is good for recitals like this, and the engineer spared us the 21st century misery of adding digital reverb willy nilly to make it sound as though it had been recorded in an Olympic swimming pool. The engineer deserves praise for letting the music speak and staying out of the way."
Who was this virtuous engineer, uncredited as so many have been over time? The list of candidates should include John Thorne and Stephen Rinker, but in my research, Tracy Ross emerged as the favorite. All are, or were, BBC staff engineers at the time.—Jim Austin
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