The other curiousity—from what we can see, apparently Russians still favor lots and lots of microphones.

In 1986 there was a sort of cultural exchange event where conductors Lawrence Leighton Smith and Dimitri Kitayenko, engineers Stan Ricker and Keith O. Johnson, and recording label Sheffield Lab produced a series of recordings with the Moscow Philharmonic of Russian and American compositions. Smith conducted the Russian pieces and Kitayenko the American.

Keith had most of the musicians initially quite concerned. They were used to having at least a microphone per stand, and couldn’t imagine that Keith’s rather minimalist setup could possibly pick things up adequately. They were amply persuaded once they heard some of the playback.

I also recall discussing the project with one of Keith’s many patrons at a tradeshow. He said “When I heard he was going to travel to the USSR, I was horrified—I figured we’d never see him again!” Fortunately, Keith behaved himself.