# Recording Mistakes



## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Coughs, chair screeches, conductor mumbling, off-key notes, and out-of-time playing happen sometimes. Do you know any particularly interesting performance mistakes or unintended sounds that made their way into a recording?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

On the Sutherland/ Pavorotti -Traviata , you can hear the rumble from the subway beneath the recording location.
Another well know secret, 1.000.000 even more copies are sold from the 4 last songs / Norman / Masur. The art work is wrong printed. It says on the back .....Leizpig whilst it is Leipzig . 
Ashkenazy is collecting misprints from CD'S


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

The original Don Carlo / Giulini EMI 3xCD boxset contained several editing/mastering errors: awful Carlo/Elisabetta duet split between the two CDs, awful stereo channels swap which occurs during the final "Per sempre!" when Domingo's voice suddenly hops from one channel to another right at the beginning of the last CD3 track.
Also, there was an audible splice in Elisabetta's final aria.


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

I have a couple of solo piano recordings (can't remember which) where you can just make out the distant tweeting of birds - unless it was squeaky casters on a chair or something.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Azol said:


> The original Don Carlo / Giulini EMI 3xCD boxset contained several editing/mastering errors: awful Carlo/Elisabetta duet split between the two CDs, awful stereo channels swap which occurs during the final "Per sempre!" when Domingo's voice suddenly hops from one channel to another right at the beginning of the last CD3 track.
> Also, there was an audible splice in Elisabetta's final aria.


Now that you mention: Don Carlos, ( Karjan EMI) less said the better .
I have a friend who did a self remastering with a equalizer, sounds much better, without the bombastic over the top original.


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## vincula (Jun 23, 2020)

When I bought Celidache's Audite box _The Complete RIAS Recordings_ I wondered about some low humming noises I could hear, especially when wearing headphones. The explanation's to be found in the booklet:

_"The low humming noise which can be heard at times is no technical fault but the sound of aeroplanes above the Titania Palast, taking off or landing at Tempelhof Airport. There was an extremely high occurrence of air traffic between 24 June 1948 and 12 May 1949, the so-called Berlin Blockade"_.

Otherwise... business as usual :lol:

Regards,

Vincula


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I would say this is much more than a “mistake,” but I have heard a dark rumor (not sure if true or not, it has never been confirmed) about Bernstein’s live BPO Mahler 9. At the climax of the finale, there’s a thump and then the entire trombone section misses their entry. Some have said that one of the trombone players had a heart attack and died. Not sure I believe this, because they finished the movement perfectly. You’d think if something like that happened everyone would come rushing to him out of concern and the concert would stop.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

There is a story that once, a famous pianist recorded the Liszt B minor sonata. However, the sound engineer, believing the first few bars to be no more than the pianist warming up or just faffing around, removed these from the tape, so the sonata starts with those big chords a minute or so in! I do not know how true this story is....urban legend, I presume?!

Somewhere I have a recording of Michelangeli, with a thunderclap at an appropriate moment of the Emperor, and Thomas Beecham discussing the FA Cup final in between takes, because the trams outside were too loud!


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I would say this is much more than a "mistake," but I have heard a dark rumor (not sure if true or not, it has never been confirmed) about Bernstein's live BPO Mahler 9. At the climax of the finale, there's a thump and then the entire trombone section misses their entry. Some have said that one of the trombone players had a heart attack and died. Not sure I believe this, because they finished the movement perfectly. You'd think if something like that happened everyone would come rushing to him out of concern and the concert would stop.


What I heard is that someone collapsed in the audience in the vicinity of the trombone section, not one of the players themselves. Not sure if that makes any more or less sense.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

flamencosketches said:


> What I heard is that someone collapsed in the audience in the vicinity of the trombone section, not one of the players themselves. Not sure if that makes any more or less sense.


I think it's cool when they leave moments like this on the recording. After all it was a live performance so why doctor it? Either release it as is or keep it in the can.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

I've got a disc of choral music (I'm not sure which one) when on the first listen I could just barely hear a low frequency sound in the background which lasted for about 30 seconds. I was listening on my headphone rig, common for me on a first listen, so I got up and played it on my 5.1 system in the living room. I cranked up the gain on the subwoofer and laid down on the floor in front of it with my eyes closed. At first I thought it was some kind of HVAC noise from the location, but then it became clear what it was. Someone had started a BIG truck just outside the church. I could hear them drive away, shifting 3 times before the sound was gone.

These noises can wreak havoc for recording engineers. (I believe I'm recalling this correctly from the pamhlet) John O'Connors recording of John Field's 15 Nocturnes on Telarc was recorded in Mechanics Hall in Worchester, MA. They would begin the recording sessions in the early AM hours when there were no outside noises. However, occasionally an ambulance would go by and ruin the take.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

flamencosketches said:


> What I heard is that someone collapsed in the audience in the vicinity of the trombone section, not one of the players themselves. Not sure if that makes any more or less sense.


That actually does make sense as the Philharmonie has chorus benches behind the brass, tympani etc., and they often sell those seats if they aren't otherwise needed so it is very possible that there were audience members just behind the trombones.


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## brahms4 (May 8, 2017)

I recall hearing the faint sound of a child crying as he or she is being taken out of the music hall on the Philips recording of Mahler`s 3rd with Haitink conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.It was a "studio" recording-not live!In the pop world there is,of course,the infamous "F****ing Hell" mumbled by Paul McCartney at the 2:59 point on the song Hey Jude,after Lennon can be heard exclaiming:"There`s a WRONG chord!"Also,on Good Day Sunshine,after Paul sings "She feels good...in a special way.."Ringo can be heard saying "She F****ing Does!"during that slight hesitation after the word "good".


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

About 2 minutes and 13 seconds into track 11 of disc 2 of Solti's _Flying Dutchman_, you can hear what sounds like a siren. At first I thought there must be some ambulance or something somewhere in the distance where I was, but later I realized that the sound is in the recording.

In Leinsdorf's studio _Lohengrin_, during the Act I prelude, you can hear some low-pitched humming sounds which I assume are cars driving outside Symphony Hall in Boston where it was recorded. I think there might be some of those sounds other places in the recording too.


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## bluto32 (Apr 25, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> I have a couple of solo piano recordings (can't remember which) where you can just make out the distant tweeting of birds - unless it was squeaky casters on a chair or something.


I have one like this: Ashkenazy playing Chopin's prelude in C major (1st track of 1st disc in the Decca Ashkenazy Chopin box). You can clearly hear some high-pitched bird tweeting, particularly towards the end.

A famous recording with extraneous noise is Gieseking's performance of Beethoven's Emperor concerto. This was recorded in Berlin in either late 1944 or early 1945 depending on which source you read. During the quieter passages (especially in the first movement), you can hear the distant sound of bombs/artillery.

As for coughing, the very worst recording I have ever come across is Gould/Bernstein in Brahms' first piano concerto. It sounds as though the mics were placed directly in front of a few severely ill members of the audience. I've heard it referred to as the "coughing concerto" and you can listen to it here:


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Never heard it myself, but back in the 60s when Sergio Fiorentino recorded the "Appassionata" he apparently made a flub in the first few bars, stopped to practise the offending bar a few times, then restarted the piece and played it right through to the end, all of which was left on the LP which was eventually issued.

I do have a couple in my collection. One's an LP of Haydn flute trios with a very distinguished "cast list" including Rostropovich on cello who quite clearly plays a wrong note in the final bar of one of the trios, but I've never once seen that referred to in any review or other comment. Same goes for the other, much more recent recording, a CD of Handel opera excerpts arranged for solo oboe (played by Albrecht Mayer) and orchestra. The "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" is also on the programme but there's a bar in the main subject, preceding its return to its high point shortly before it finishes, which (delightfully) disrupts the symmetry but which some ignorant oaf at DG has edited out!


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## Geoff48 (Aug 15, 2020)

I remember the Fiorentino Appasionata. It was on the Fidelio label owned by Barrington Coupe married to Joyce Hatto. Fidelio often acquired seconds which could be interesting to say the least. And often the performers preferred anonymity behind pseudonyms.l However for an impecunious schoolboy with limited pocket money they were a way of getting to know great music without breaking the bank.
But I remember a record of Tchaikovsky Symphony played by one Felix Heiss with the Danzig Philharmonic. As the recording was in stereo and Danzig was handed over to Poland in 1945 and renamed Gdańsk clearly a pseudonym. But what was more interesting was that the end of the second movement a snippet of tape went backwards for a few seconds. Clearly a pre edited copy. But to be fair the actual performance was one of the most exciting versions of the symphony I’ve ever heard. My guess was a Russian Orchestra but I never found out who the conductor was. Which is a pity as he was clearly gifted and his Tchaikovsky 2nd and 5th were also first class interpretations even if the recording of the former was execrable.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

I remember those Fidelio LPs too. I was at a schoolfriend's house once in those days and he showed me his mum's LP of Mozart's D minor piano concerto conducted by one, er, Wilhelm Havagesse. He was puzzled when I burst out laughing, till I explained why.


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## VitellioScarpia (Aug 27, 2017)

There is performance mistake in the Serafin recording of Leoncavallo's _Pagliacci_ which I have never read commented. Di Stefano's (Canio) sings in the first scene confrontation with Callas (Nedda): _Pria di lordarla nel tuo fetido sangue, oh svergognata, codesta lama io vo' il *tuo* nome! Parla!_. Canio's line is actually _il *suo* nome_ as he is demanding Nedda to tell him Silvio's name, not for her name. The scene is played white hot and I suspect that because of it, Legge assumed that people would not notice the _tuo_ instead of the _suo_.


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