Orchestral flashmob

[video=youtube;GBaHPND2QJg]

Some....er slight.....intonation/tuning issues, especially between the cello and double bass in the beginning......on purpose perhaps? Or just temperature difference between the inside and outside and moving the instruments perhaps affecting the tuning? Dunno. Maybe they left it to improve realism?

Also, it looks like they used people with cell phones or portable mini HD video camera's for the footage, as I don't see pro cams moving about and the different angles would make them hard to hide....... but then I may have missed them.

The audio is particularly good. I am suspicious about that. I think it is a studio recording as I see no mic's....a couple contact piezo's here and there perhaps. The syncing must have been a feat. It's done extremely well. Perhaps the beginning is real time and the latter part is synced to a studio recording.

Nevertheless it's a fun watch. I like seeing/hearing the harmony/melody increase as each group of instruments is introduced.

I think there was a certain amount of artfulness at work here. I definitely felt like they cut to a hall or studio recording in the obvious place. The timbre and ambiance seemed to shift pretty noticeably. And, of course, there were enough singers or players to field that sound, I'm about 120% sure.

Also, I'll just say that this is the first time I've ever seen anyone perform Beethoven's 9th where the singer's didn't have music in front of them. That said, if you know you're only doing that subsection, you don't have that much to memorize; and the folks were mostly on point (and, of course, if someone went off the reservation, hey, they didn't have the sheet music in front of them, did they?)

The only thing that makes me think our cynical interpretation might be wrong is that the jump from the first section to the second is so dramatic -- I would have thought that anyone who had gone to the trouble to set that all up so slickly would have gone to the trouble of matching the recordings a little better (assuming the cynical scenario)... Still, it would be very hard for me to believe they got even the initial segment out there (of course, I weighed the mic in the hat thing -- particularly since no one puts any money in the hat -- but it doesn't sound like the mic was in the hat.

One more thing that points me back the cynical interp though, is the change in the stereo spread when the segments change. Listening to it again, no, it's just clumsy. The one really false step in an otherwise charming vid.

PS... after relistening... My best guess? The de facto chamber orchestra here cut the first section in a studio (listen to how the second bass sounds! I simply can't imagine either a single point or multi point capture in that environment that would give that sound. Could be wrong, I'm not infallible, but I have a pretty good ear for timbre and ambiance.) Anyhow they then, I'm pretty sure, used the smaller orchestra's studio recording (not necessarily the same people here but I'll be you almost anything they were) for the first part and the large orchestra and B9-thian large choir recording for the second, putting them out in the square as guides for the 'lip syncing' for the shoot.

Yeah true.....and at the end of the day, it's just a fun video and I guess advertising for the board of tourism perhaps........LOL!!!

Problem is.....the damn video seems viral and so any Googling of the orchestra itself gets 1 gazillion hits about the video itself.

You know...

[video=youtube;9U9mJBd6s28]

No doubt many others who aren't so close to the technology and production ends of things could suspend disbelief a little easier. And, no doubt, many will take if for just what it seems to be, a B9 flash mob, actually performing. Still, I suspect that the jump will be noticeable to a lot of non-techie, non-musicians, too.

End of the day, it's a nice, sweet little 'story.'

real orchestral flash mob:

[video=youtube;mrEk06XXaAw]

the video looks staged and cheesy.

even the audience looks in on it

That's nice, too. But I don't see how the orchestra can keep growing while you only ever see about 3 or 4 musicians actually coming in and setting up... yet by the end the size of the ensemble has grown by 4 or 5 times. And there are times when one seems hear more instruments than one sees. And, of course, there are a lot more camera views from HD cams than you see, even if you could convince yourself that people holding up feature phones all were able to contribute HD footage. The upshot is the cam crews were working quite artfully to stay out of each other's shots.

I suspect one could go through and compare people's positions from segment to segment and, I suspect, determine that this was composited and edited, at the very least...

But, again, it's like pulling apart a flower to try to figure out what makes it pretty.