(Re)constructing Early Recordings: a guide for historically informed performance
Project website
ViewOverview
"(Re)constructing Early Recordings: a guide for historically-informed performance" was a Leverhulme-funded research project that concerned the production of early recordings, focussing on wax cylinders and discs. Through a (re)construction of mechanical recording methods, musical performances were captured, analysed, and made available to the international community of musical researchers. All recordings were simultaneously recorded using contemporary digital technologies, allowing for direct comparisons between the acoustic and digital recordings. Results, which integrated creative practice and theoretical research, illuminated both performance and recording practices of the past, and elaborated a method for future research into early recordings.
This project showed how valuable is to learn about past recording practices through empirical experiments, both in terms of mechanical recording technologies, and performance practices research. Once the project finished in 2021, this central idea evolved into mechanical recording workshops. The workshops were organised between 2021 and 2023 under AHRC Research Network Redefining Early Recordings as Sources for Performance Practice and History, and are currently led by Early Recordings Association, in the form of highly specialised case-studies.
Team
Principle investigator
Dr Inja Stanovic
Surrey Future Senior Fellow
Biography
Dr Inja Stanović is a Croatian pianist and a published author. Inja is a Senior Researcher at the University of Surrey, where she directs the Early Recordings Association, ERA. Her recent publications include co-edited volume Early Sound Recordings: Academic Research and Practice (Routledge, 2023), and a free-source research album Austro-German Revivals: (Re)constructing Acoustic Recordings (University of Huddersfield Press, 2022).
Outputs
The project resulted in several publications, with more on the way. Some of them are:
A chip off the old Block? Introducing the practice of historically-informed recording (co-authored with Dr. Adam Stanovic, London College of Communication, University of Arts). Article in: Seismograf. Sounds of Science. Methods and Aesthetics in Auditory Research Practices (April, 2021)
(Re)constructing Early Recordings: Experimental research as a guide in performance, in Early Sound Recordings: Academic research and Practice, eds. Moreda Rodríguez, E. and Stanovic, I. (Routledge, 2023)
(Re)constructing Early Recordings: Reviving the Brave Belgians (co-authored with Dr. Jeroen Billiet, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussels). Article in: Music & Practice (June, 2023)
Austro-German Revivals: (Re)constructing Acoustic Recordings, research album co-authored with Dr. David Milsom, University of Huddersfield). Album is available as a free source, published by University of Huddersfield Press, 2022.