ABSTRACT
Since the end of the 19th century recordings made in various circumstances have made it possible to examine and compare performances. One can gain some impression of how a performance will have been heard at the time and in the place it occurred. When their dominant musical personality was combined with a particular school of string, woodwind and brass playing the orchestra would develop an individual, discernable tonal and stylistic personality. In addition to the poor recording quality of the 1951 Concertgebouw recording, already noted, the woodwind microphone placement is rather distant so that the balance of the woodwind and the strings is poor. In 1992, the Concertgebouw woodwind sound was very similar to most other European wind sections of the time: the St. Petersburg section had changed very little. The same comments, made in regard to the woodwind, apply to the brass on the 1951 Concertgebouw recording: they sound rather distant and 'edgy'.
