# Recorded Mistakes



## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Have you ever been listening to a recording and out of the blue comes a mistake so blatant that you wonder how that was missed and not corrected in a retake? 

For example, my Solti/Chicago recording of The Planets is generally an admirable effort. But in Saturn, there is a splattered horn entrance that is all the more noticeable as they come in fff after a very soft section. 

I also have a recording of Lenny Bernstein and the NY Phill doing Pictures at an Exhibition with the piccolo out of tune for the whole piece.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I have a recording of the Brahms requiem in which, in the third movement, there is a sharp snapping sort of sound in moment of silence, as if someone had dropped a bow onto the floor or a chair had cracked or something like that. Always wondered why they didn't just edit it out.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

A recording of Tchaikovsky's second symphony apparently had such terrible editing that the music unintentionally fades out in the middle of the first movement and just fades back in, approx. 3 minutes ahead.... 

I once had memorized exactly when pianist Berezovsky struck the wrong chord in Rachmaninov's second concerto in one recording....


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I have a GG rec. in which he hums.


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## Toddlertoddy (Sep 17, 2011)

drpraetorus said:


> Recorded mistakes


*NO*



Vaneyes said:


> I have a GG rec. in which he hums.


That is not a mistake, this is an integral part of his pieces.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Vaneyes said:


> I have a GG rec. in which he hums.


Does that mean you have one where he doesn't?


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Vaneyes said:


> I have a GG rec. in which he hums.


I have always found Gould's constant humming and howling on his recordings immensely irritating. It is actually weird, because he considered recordings to be the wave of the future, as opposed to live performance. So why then give us recordings which are in general well done, but with all that extraneous noise?

Anyway, he could not have foreseen the modern world of file sharing, which may well breathe new life into live performances.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

There are some other examples mentioned in this thread:
http://www.talkclassical.com/23566-bizarre-recordings.html


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## graaf (Dec 12, 2009)

For me, it's much worse when I hear coughs and/or chair noise that happens occasionally, instead of continuous background noise (as can happen on some old, badly done recordings or on youtube live performances). I usually don't listen to those performances, no matter how much I appreciate those performers. The thing is that I always expect those short noises when I listen to a CD, and it ruins the enjoyment...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Just imagine, the meter is running, eighty or more players at union scale, studio engineer's time, overall budget, and there is your explanation for why some of those mistakes are on the recording -- especially pre digital editing, which was labor-intensive and costly.

Yes, Virginia, there was an era of recording without digital anything. Cut and splice meant literally cut and splice magnetic tape!


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I have a recording of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Argerich & Perlman) in which Argerich hits a wrong note at the final chord of the piece. It's a live take, though, so you can't blame her.
Richter made a famous mistake in Bach's Italian Concerto, you can read the story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_Richter#Approach_to_performance

"Similarly, after Richter realized that he had been playing a wrong note in Bach's Italian Concerto for decades, he insisted that the following disclaimer/apology be printed on a CD containing a performance thereof: "Just now Sviatoslav Richter realized, much to his regret, that he always made a mistake in the third measure before the end of the second part of the 'Italian Concerto'. As a matter of fact, through forty years - and no musician or technician ever pointed it out to him - he played 'F-sharp' rather than 'F'. The same mistake can be found in the previous recording made by Maestro Richter in the fifties."


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

aleazk said:


> I have a recording of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Argerich & Perlman) in which Argerich hits a wrong note at the final chord of the piece. It's a live take, though, so you can't blame her.
> Richter made a famous mistake in Bach's Italian Concerto, you can read the story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_Richter#Approach_to_performance
> 
> "Similarly, after Richter realized that he had been playing a wrong note in Bach's Italian Concerto for decades, he insisted that the following disclaimer/apology be printed on a CD containing a performance thereof: "Just now Sviatoslav Richter realized, much to his regret, that he always made a mistake in the third measure before the end of the second part of the 'Italian Concerto'. As a matter of fact, through forty years - and no musician or technician ever pointed it out to him - he played 'F-sharp' rather than 'F'. The same mistake can be found in the previous recording made by Maestro Richter in the fifties."


... Prior the correction, this particular movement never seemed quite right to the performer, when he finally corrected that error after forty years of playing it incorrectly, that movement finally made sense to him


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## themysticcaveman (Jul 9, 2013)

Vaneyes said:


> I have a GG rec. in which he hums.


I have a Pollini recording of Beethoven's emperor concerto where he hums after the transition from the adagio to the the rondo as soon, and i wouldn't change it a bit


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

At the start of 'Uranus' from Holst's Planets on the Naxos recording, the timpanist hits his drums five times instead of 4. :lol:


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

techniquest said:


> At the start of 'Uranus' from Holst's Planets on the Naxos recording, the timpanist hits his drums five times instead of 4.


I think that is genius. Holst should've written it like that, too!!!  
On a more serious note (pun intended ).... Well! That wasn't very serious, now was it?! 
No, really.... I sometimes get very annoyed when there is a favorite recording of mine, and something like that interferes with the beauty, especially when there are careless mistakes that are really disturbing to the listener.... Like when, in one recording that I have of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony, the timpanist strikes the timpani in the first movement REALLY LOUDLY, and practically deafens me when I have my headphones in my ears.... Perhaps in the commotion of the thing, the timpanist didn't realize.... 
You know when you are a child and the piano teacher tells you that you are playing the left hand too loudly? Same situation. :lol:

On the bright side, the rest of the recording is excellent!


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## PeterPowerPop (Mar 27, 2014)

In Bychkov's wonderful recording of _The Nutcracker_, there are some less-than-wonderful mistakes from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra:

CD 1 Track 10 (In the Christmas Tree)
2:29 - Wrong note from a violin in the right channel
3:07 - Wrong note from a horn in the right channel
3:30 - Wrong note from a horn in the right channel

CD 2 Track 6 (Trepak [Russian Dance])
0:44 - Wrong note from a horn in the right channel
0:50 - Wrong note from a horn in the right channel

The weird thing is, they're the only two tracks with any hint of wrong notes. Everything else is superb.

My question is: Why didn't anyone involved in the production (i.e., orchestra, conductor, engineer, producer) notice those fairly noticeable mistakes?


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

There is always the legendary "Barking Dog Scheherazade" on Columbia LP ML 4089. Unfortunately, the dog is not on every copy (including mine).


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

PetrB said:


> ... Prior the correction, this particular movement never seemed quite right to the performer, when he finally corrected that error after forty years of playing it incorrectly, that movement finally made sense to him


He was a true Princess, wasn't he?


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

I take it you mean recent recordings where multiple takes are possible as opposed to historical all in one?

Jando's recording of the Brahms dmin PC has a splattered wrong note on one of the octave trills (somewhere in the middle, can't remember exactly)
Haitink's Shosta 8 has a miscued Clarinet entry at the start of the 5th mov
Not entirely on topic but in Gould's live recording of the Strauss Burleske, he screws up one of the LH chords which jinxed me every time I had to practice it!


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Not really a mistake - but I love the page turn at 1:56.


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

It was a record I checked out from the library many years ago, so I don't recall who the performers were, but the first movement of Beethoven's 7th ended with a horn playing a glaringly wrong note on the next to last chord. And he held it slightly longer than the rest of the orchestra, which made it stick out even more. It sounded like something right out of Peter Schickele's "New Horizons in Music Appreciation."


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Apparently the skin on the bass drum that Tonio is bashing in order to get the audience's attention during the prologue of Karajan's 1965 recording of Pagliacci split. It was agreed to let it remain unedited.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

In the Juilliard String Quartet's recording of the Late String Quartets, there's a missed or accidental note played at the :07 mark of Op.131, 1st Mvt. It's VERY obvious and, coupled with coughing and clearing of throats throughout the entire recording, has forced me to seek out alternative options.


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## Rhythm (Nov 2, 2013)

schuberkovich said:


> Not really a mistake - but I love the page turn at 1:56.


Very good! Even if I had heard it without your alert, I would've likely wondered .

Great Pianists' Technique: Mishaps
The numerous mishaps begin approximately one minute in.

The pianists' names and pages of the scores are shown for your listening and watching pleasures and guffaws! Some pianists' errors have been caught on film.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

scratchgolf said:


> In the Juilliard String Quartet's recording of the Late String Quartets, there's a missed or accidental note played at the :07 mark of Op.131, 1st Mvt. It's VERY obvious and, coupled with coughing and clearing of throats throughout the entire recording, has forced me to seek out alternative options.


Quartetto Italiano.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

I picked up Suske and Emerson. Will check out Italiano as well. Ty.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

scratchgolf said:


> I picked up Suske and Emerson. Will check out Italiano as well. Ty.


Yea, there's just something about Italiano's blend of technicality and liquid execution that puts them at the top for me.


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## Funny (Nov 30, 2013)

I don't see a sound clip online, but Peter Schickele has a great bit from his P.D.Q. Bach On the Air album where he attempts a "historical" performance of P.D.Q.'s "Traumerei" on the composer's own piano, which is out of tune, missing notes and in a house where the inhabitants don't particularly care that he's trying to get timeless music down on audio. Among the many disturbances, at one point someone starts vacuuming the rug next to the piano while he's playing.


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## Oliver (Feb 14, 2012)

Mahler's 9th by Klemperer has a pretty noticeable mistake in the first movement at around 22:30.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

When it comes to wrong notes or other mistakes in the performance, those are annoying and if possible, should be edited or rerecorded. 

But when it comes to things like, page turning, dropped bows, chair movements and such, I have no problems with them at all. They add to the illusion of 'being there' and help draw me in to the performance.


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

Solti's 3rd Schumann has some obvious horrendously out of tune brass.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

mikey said:


> Solti's 3rd Schumann has some obvious horrendously out of tune brass.


Yes it sure does - but it is horridly orchestrated and the 4th movement in particular is always a nervy struggle!

Live recordings are obviously a bit different, but the Bohm Ring at Bayreuth has truly horrible playing throughout and an old Furtwangler Beethoven 9 I once heard sounds like a blooper reel


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## BRHiler (May 3, 2014)

I have a Karajan/BPO recording of the Pines of Rome. At around the climax of the 2nd movement the woodwind/strings are a beat ahead or behind (I can't remember, I haven't listened to it in years) the brass section. It stays that way for quite awhile....at least 20'ish seconds.

Saw posts about GG's humming, and you can also catch Bernstein humming on a lot of recordings. My favorite is the LAPO doing Appalachian Spring.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

There's a huge mistake in Rattle's recording of Beethoven 9 with the Vienna Phil, and that's that Rattle recorded Beethoven 9 with the Vienna Phil.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

_Hermann Scherchen_´s legacy is probably a record-breaker among conductors as regards wrong entries and sketchy coordination, yet I wouldn´t be without it.
A somewhat sketchy/comical example (proto-HIP?) As it is often the case with live performances, they get better on the way


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

Is there an Ed Wood equivalent of the conducting world?
I guess the amazing Ms Jenkins would be the singers idol and the Portsmouth Sinfonia the orchestra's ideal aim (although they're purposely tongue in cheek)


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## PeterPowerPop (Mar 27, 2014)

In the Minkowski recording of Handel's _La Resurrezione_, soprano Annick Massis sings a very noticeable sharp note. It's on CD 1, Track 25 (Coro: "Il Nume vincitor") at 1:13.

You can hear it in this YouTube clip at 9:30:


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