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Where were the horns in Mahler 2 this evening? The live Radio 3 relay did not feature a horn section. The horns sounded distant and barely audible. Were they playing off stage? We have always been told that their chosen Alex 103s were special because they 'projected the sound'. We know that the Berlin PO horns hold their bells way out and don't use much hand in the bell so they should be able to find their way onto the BBC mikes. They didn't so what does that tell us about the Alex 103's ability to project sound? I think they are very good 'starter horns' and I used one myself for the first few years as a professional before moving on to a better instrument for a section player.

Did anyone go to the concert or hear it with different ears? I know what broadcasts from the RFH sound like and how well the London orchestras' horns always sound from there. I remain convinced that the Alex 103 as a section instrument is not the real deal. Sir Simon was conducting with his head again. He knows what expression looks like but has difficulty actually feeling anything. I honestly think that he thinks he feels something but how do you know if you're not when you don't and or can't? Anyone else find it hard to look at him when they are playing 'under him' as they say. He always made me feel queasy (or is that queazy?). I think he's a fake. Duff ensemble and a distinctly earthbound orchestra to round it all off. Oh, and some crap tempi as well.

Nice to have a bit of a rant. Thank you to the forum admin for keeping it open against all the odds.

Mike,

Can't comment on the oddities of Simon Rattle fortunately, but agree regarding the missing sound and shite tempi: there's artistic and there's perverse!

I did wonder whether there was no microphone to the rear right of the section AT ALL.

To be fair to BPO and the 103, there are plenty recordings where they can be heard OK. so either they were resting/blown out (they are probably not used to such a heavy schedule) or it was a technical issue.

BPO over rated?

S Simon Rattle over rated?

London Orchestras under rated - Abso bloody lutely!

The BPO horn section always make a big sound when heard live. It seems quite likely that this was a sound engineering problem.

It can take a lot of time and experimentation to find a good configuration and layout of microphones to be able to record well in a new setting. Then further experimentation of settings and considerable attention to detail is required to create the correct mixed sound if combining audio streams from a number of different microphones. It is easy to imagine that with the pressures of a busy tour schedule that there simply wasn't the time available to allow these things to happen properly.

The RFH is infamous for its "dead feeling" stage. If there weren't any microphones near the horns or at the back of the auditorium, or if the microphones used had the wrong directionality (e.g. highly directional microphones pointed at other sections), the horn section's sound could easily have been missed.

How many great players have been let down by their sound engineers in a controlled studio environment? How much more difficult is it to get this right for a live recording?!