2017年3月26日 星期日


Analysis and synthesis of the violin playing style of Heifetz and Oistrakh




Our experiment on expressive synthesis contains two tasks.
The first task is to synthesize excerpts that are part of our dataset (i.e. excerpts that have been observed in the analysis stage), in order to test the feasibility of our proposed features and parameters to simulate the fine structure of the original sound.
Here, we take Brahms' Violin Concerto, Mov. I, bars 129-132, and Sibelius' Violin Concerto, Mov. III, bars 133-135 as examples.
To receive a synthetic sound that looks like the original, the statistical parameters are from the excerpt itself. In other words, we calculate the parameters of each of the two excerpts independently, and apply them to synthesize the playing style of Heifetz or Oistrakh.

The second task is to synthesize an excerpt outside of the dataset, Beethoven's Violin Sonata No.5, Op.24, Mov. I, bars 1-10, which is also known as Spring. The parameters, however, are from the entire dataset, because we do not have any prior knowledge on the expressive parameters of Spring. In other words, we want to test via this task whether a computer is able to imitate the two violinists' playing style on an excerpt, which is not collected in the dataset.


Task 1: Synthetic excerpts from the dataset


The original sources of these music pieces are of gramophone recordings, which include background accompaniment such as cello or second violin and the white noise.
To avoid the influence of the background accompaniment, we use a high-pass filter to remove it.
In Sibelius' case, the threshold is 250 Hz, since the lowest note of this excerpt is 277 Hz,
while in Brahms' case, the threshold is 300 Hz, since the lowest note of this excerpt is 311 Hz.
Original version(from gramophone recordings)
Sibelius' VC, Op.47, Mov III, bars 133-135 Brahms' VC, Op.77, Mov I, bars 129-132
HeifetzWavFile HeifetzWavFile
OistrakhWavFile OistrakhWavFile



In task 1, the synthetic parameters are from the original excerpt.
For the similarity between the original and synthesis versions, some post-processings are adopted. That is, we adjust the volume of synthesis version to make the energy equal to the original version, which has also been modified by the high-pass filter.
Synthesis version(based on proposed features)
Sibelius' VC, Op.47,Mov III,bars 133-135 Brahms' VC, Op.77,Mov I, bars 129-132
HeifetzWavFile HeifetzWavFile
OistrakhWavFile OistrakhWavFile





Task 2: Synthetic excerpt outside of the dataset


Since we don't have the gramophone recording of Spring, the original sources are from the Youtube .
Beethoven' VS, No.5, Op.24, Mov I, bars 1-10
Spring(from Youtube link)
link 1 link 2
Heifetz Heifetz
Oistrakh Oistrakh



For the synthesis of Spring, we narrow down the scope of excerpts to those, whose beat per minute (BPM) is around 120, according to the Allegro notation on the score of Spring. Specifically, we choose 18 excerpts from the dataset, take the mean value of each parameter over such ones, and then apply them to the synthesis system. The synthesis process is the same as the first task.
The post-processings adopted in task 1 are also applied to task 2.
Synthesis version(based on proposed features)
Beethoven' VS, No.5, Op.24, Mov I, bars 1-10
Spring
HeifetzWavFile
OistrakhWavFile





Dataset


To compare the style of Heifetz and Oistrakh, we choose the music pieces that both of them have played before. In particular, we focus on the work recorded in the prime of their lives, for they are considered to be representative of their style.
In addition, we pick only the violin solo parts to keep the influence from the background accompaniment minimal.
As illustrated in Table 1, we select 26 excerpts from six famous violin concertos from gramophone recordings, whose information is listed in Table 2.


Table 1: Dataset Information of 26 Excerpts
ComposerMusic NameMov.Bars
L. V. BeethovenViolin concerto in D major, Op. 61 I96, 97-98, 100-101, 128-130, 130-131, 134-136, 137-139
II77, 81-82, 83
J. BrahmsViolin concerto in D major, Op. 77 I115-118, 124-127, 129-132
P. I. TchaikovskyViolin concerto in D major, Op. 35 I28-29, 31-33, 39-41, 105-106
M. C. F. BruchScottish Fantasy, Op.46 II97-101, 107-109
E. V. A. LaloSymphonie espagnole in D minor, Op. 21 I41-51, 66-69
J. SibeliusViolin concerto, Op. 47 I26-31
III124-127, 128-130, 133-135, 146-152



Table 2:Dataset Information of Six Gramophone Recordings
ComposerMusic NameHeifetz Info.Oistrakh Info.
LabelYearLabelYear
L. V. BeethovenViolin concerto in D major, Op. 61 RCA - RR 6082-M1959 Columbia - FCX 8171960
J. BrahmsViolin concerto in D major, Op. 77 RCA Victor Red Seal - LM-19031955 Columbia - SAX 24111961
P. I. TchaikovskyViolin concerto in D major, Op. 35 RCA Victor Red Seal - LSC-21291958 Deutsche Grammophon - DGM 181961954
M. C. F. BruchScottish Fantasy, Op.46 RCA Victor Red Seal - LSC-26031962 London Records - CS 63371962
E. V. A. LaloSymphonie espagnole in D minor, Op. 21 La Voix De Son Maître - FBLP 10191953 Columbia - FCX 4271955
J. SibeliusViolin concerto, Op. 47 RCA Victor Red Seal - LM-2435 1960 Columbia Odyssey - Y 30489 1971

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