Additional Players for Cast Albums

[clarkstallings]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 9:03pm

I don't know if this has been discussed recently or not so forgive me if it has. What are y'alls opinions on having additional players for cast albums, most notably strings? It sort of annoys me as I love that raw "Broadway" string sound and so many cast albums lose that "sitting in the theatre" sound by adding more strings and horns. I wish they'd use the in theatre instrumentation for cast albums.

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 5/21/06 at 9:38pm

Usually the cast recording lives on more than the show does, so they want it to be as lush as possible. It's not a bad thing, plus it gives union musicians jobs, so there's nothing wrong with employing more people. And live performances and recorded performances have a totally different impact, I don't think that the cast recordings would be as good if there was just minimal music. But if you listen to a lot of off-broadway cast recordings, you can hear the difference, because off-broadway cast recordings tend to use minimal instruments. So if it bugs you, then just start listening to OOBCR's!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/22/06 at 2:30am

Cast albums are not supposed to be documents of exactly what is heard in the theatre. Those that are usually are pretty lifeless albums.

The aim is to re-create for the ear alone an appoximation of the show on stage. Millions of changes are made - dialogue placement, abridgements, running order. Sometimes even the sound is chnaged: On the OBC oif SUNDAY IN THE PARK the record begins with a piano arpegio with Mandy's spoken into following and gradually other instruments sneak in under him until the full orchestra plays. In the theatre he begins speaking first and the orchestra sneaks in after he has said a few lines. The change makes a better recording. The spoken lines work better in the theatre.


Adding a few strings just balances the huge cutbacks in Broadway orchestras over the years making some of the put orchestras sound pretty thin. I can't imagine why anyone would prefer to hear it sounding that way.