FEATURE RECORDING
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Christmas In July
Red TX
DPA 5100 surround microphones captured the sound of the choir
In celebration of the centenary of the US-based St Olaf a capella choir, the group performed a special concert in its motherland of Norway last month. Stephen Bennett caught up with RED TX’s Tim Summerhayes to find out about the process of capturing such a historic moment.
I ONCE shared a hot tub in northern Sweden with a Canadian Skidoo team. I mention this not because I wish to impress upon you my sybaritic nature, but because it serves as a personal example of the long-standing cultural connection between northern America and northern Europe. Long before motorised snow transport was even a gleam in the eyes of winter sports enthusiasts, the St Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA was founded by a group of Norwegian-American immigrants, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. Named after the first king and patron saint of Norway, Olaf II Haraldsson, the institution’s premier choral ensemble has
30 August 2013
just marked its centenary by recording a classical concert at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway where Olaf ’s remains are buried. The St Olaf a cappella choir consists of 75 voices whose members are drawn from a cohort of full-time undergraduate students, rehearsing for five days each week alongside their schedule of academic studies. Anton Armstrong has conducted the choir since 1990, and every year it travels the world on an annual tour. To date, the choir has completed 15 international tours and performed in front of capacity audiences in the major concert halls of Norway, France, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, New York City, Washington, D.C.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and the Twin Cities. Based on the success of a
PBS broadcast of a previous year’s tour, Armstrong decided that the choir’s centennial tour to Norway in 2013 would be an excellent opportunity for another recording in Trondheim. This special concert was to be the grand finale of the three- week tour of Norway arranged in honour of the anniversary of the choir’s first tour of that same country 100 years earlier, under the direction of its very first conductor, F Melius Cristiansen. It also gave St Olaf ’s an opportunity to continue its relationship with the musicians at the Norwegian cathedral, especially the Nidarosdomens
Jentekor and their conductor, Anita Brevik. To undertake this task, the experienced team at Red TX was asked to transport its large Red II music recording truck from Blighty to Trondheim. Tim Summerhayes, Red TX’s Co- director, takes up the story. “Brian Clark from Visions
OBs called me up and said would I be interested in recording ‘a little choir up in Norway’,” he says. “Brian said it was a 40-piece choir with a soloist and I thought, well that isn’t really rocket science and I’d love to do it. So he gave me the contact number and name of the music producer from an American choir that was coming over to Europe whom I knew nothing about at all. I emailed Jeffry O’Donnell, the
Musical Producer of St Olaf ’s college choir saying I’d definitely like to record them. He wrote back with a three- page letter explaining that it was actually going to be a 75- piece choir with soloist, another 75-strong girls’ choir from the cathedral, a string quartet, a brass quartet, their two organs and a Hardanger fiddle (a traditional Norwegian instrument) – which I had to look up! It became quite apparent that this was going to be an enormous concert. So in correspondence with Jeff we worked out a basic recording plan. As he records the choir on a regular basis in America, we agreed on a basic layout of microphones and the equipment needed. We knew it was going to be televised
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