Several months ago I discovered the Portsmouth Sinfonia, an orchestral experiment put together by a group of students in the 1970s at the Portsmouth School of Art in England. Anyone was allowed to join the orchestra, regardless of their musical talent, ability, or experience. Though their last public performance was in 1979, many of their infamous recordings can be found online for everyone's "enjoyment" (I use the term very loosely). To me, these recordings are absolutely hilarious to listen to. But to each his own.
As I've thought about it, I think part of what I find humorous about it comes simply from being a composer. Often in the industry of film music, there is a common assumption that live recordings, as opposed to sampled mock-ups, are always 100% better. Not to say that live performance is not superior, 99% of the time it is indeed--but it's important to note that a sloppy or badly performed recording can be just as damaging to a piece of music as a cheap mock-up. A fellow composer, Rick Holets, put it so:
"It is interesting to note that an amateur orchestra with unskilled players can completely destroy the performance of a classic, time-proven and loved piece of music. In the same way, it should be expected that poorly executed virtual mock-ups (often the final product in our world) can be just as devastating to musicality, quality, and emotiveness of a piece."
Of course, some modernists like to cheekily push the envelope and ask: is badly performed music really bad? And with that:
As I've thought about it, I think part of what I find humorous about it comes simply from being a composer. Often in the industry of film music, there is a common assumption that live recordings, as opposed to sampled mock-ups, are always 100% better. Not to say that live performance is not superior, 99% of the time it is indeed--but it's important to note that a sloppy or badly performed recording can be just as damaging to a piece of music as a cheap mock-up. A fellow composer, Rick Holets, put it so:
"It is interesting to note that an amateur orchestra with unskilled players can completely destroy the performance of a classic, time-proven and loved piece of music. In the same way, it should be expected that poorly executed virtual mock-ups (often the final product in our world) can be just as devastating to musicality, quality, and emotiveness of a piece."
Of course, some modernists like to cheekily push the envelope and ask: is badly performed music really bad? And with that:
Hallelujah.
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