“If you have a classical CD collection, you probably know the work of Tim Handley,” writes John Fleming in Sunday’s (5/9) St. Petersburg Times (Florida). “His resume of productions for Chandos, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Virgin, Naxos and other classical labels includes four Grammy Awards. Last weekend, Handley was ensconced in a backstage room of the Mahaffey Theater that was full of recording equipment. A 49-year-old Englishman based in London, he had been hired by the Florida Orchestra to make its first CD in more than a decade, of Dvorak’s evergreen Symphony No. 9 (From the New World). The recording was going to be done live, and for Saturday night’s masterworks concert, the Mahaffey stage was festooned with microphones on stands: four across the front of the stage and eight among the orchestra players. … The performance May 1 was splendid, but much of the music on the recording will likely come from a rehearsal the previous Thursday afternoon, when the orchestra, Sandlerling and Handley had Mahaffey all to themselves for two hours and 45 minutes. … As the producer, Handley needs to keep in mind the big picture in which he has three performances to draw music from for the final product: the April 29 afternoon session, the performance on May 1 and then a half-hour ‘patch’ session after the concert when the hall was empty.”
Posted May 11, 2010
