One hundred and twenty years to the day since the opening of the classical music venue on 5 May 1891, a gala concert was held at Carnegie Hall to celebrate its on-going position as one of the world's foremost cultural centres. The New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, performed an evening of music with a strong historical connection to the Hall, the city of New York, or both: Dvo?ák, Beethoven, Ellington and Gershwin. Guest performers included cellist Yo Yo Ma, pianist Emmanuel Ax, violinist Gil Shaham, and vocalist Audra McDonald.
The concert was filmed live by flagship New York public TV channel WNET. Merging's Pyramix was used for all of the audio recording at the concert, and subsequently for all of the post-production: editing to picture, mixing (in full 5.1 surround) and mastering. Merging's VCube digital video playback system was also used for playback of the concert footage while it was being edited.
Audio engineer Tim Martyn of Phoenix Audio, who worked on the concert alongside audio producer David Frost, commented, "It was a privilege to help celebrate the birthday of this fine old New York institution, and to do it with the best audio and video playback tools available. David Frost and I are long-standing Pyramix users, and wouldn't entrust a culturally important recording like this one to any other recording system."
(Jim Evans)
