Questions of the month (July 2008)
I answer here the questions sent to the confidential e-mail address you have been provided with.
A composer friend of mine asked me a question regarding the synchronization between the orchestral recording and that of the singers. Roughly, how does it go? The singers have had the complete score for some time as well as a recording of the orchestra on CD. In the recording studio, the sound of the orchestra (as well as their own voice) is broadcast to them via earphones. The true difficulty consists in working with a necessarily stiff system but on the other hand, at its complete beck and call! I direct them when they wish so, in particular in certain passages when the voice has to start without the orchestra, or during a change of tempo.
Chronic of a writing
Very little composing this month; I only found the time to finish scene 5. "The Man in Black" becomes Christ, and has just disappeared. Padre Pio's reaction of despair, discovering that the palm of hands and side are now covered with blood. He begs God to remove these signs from him (because of which he feels despicable) and to return him to his former self.
My main practical concerns: coordination of timetables; where to hold rehearsals (which won't bother the neighbours)? The rehearsals themselves, and finally, three days of studio recording. Finally, that everything goes well. Fortunately the singers helped me out a great deal as they handle the Italian language better than me (and were kind enough to correct my errors of prosody) as did the sound engineer whose redoubtable ear detects the slightest distance from an eighth of tone or even less. Two thirds of the first act are now recorded and mixed (the final mixing has been made; it consists in putting in the perspective orchestra sound and the singers, then to dynamically animate the latter - that is to simulate some essential movements on stage. I still need to get an enormous amount of work done this summer, I need to write and record the orchestration of the end of the first act; the last recordings should take place in September / October. The continuation is still not very clear; I have to find new resources to finance the second act.
Some photos to remember
(rehearsal day June 12, and studio recording June 16 to 19)
