My Final Comment on the Gershwin CD
By Spencer Chase
I had mixed feelings about sending my first diatribe on the Gershwin CD. I wanted to provoke some discussion on the music in the mechanical music field and I guess I did. It was great to hear the opinions of others, especially those who obviously know a lot more about music and about Gershwin than I do. I just know what I like and sometimes understand some of the reasons but my formal knowledge of music is very limited.
I like music with personality and a sense of performance. I like reproducing piano music to sound like what I believe the original editors intended. I don't believe it to be any sort of final word on the styles or abilities of the recording artists any more than that is necessarily the case with recorded music today.
I visited a friend who owns a fine new recording studio and asked him to play the CD and give his opinion. He is an acomplished pianist and also a piano technician with player and reproducing piano experience. He also owns likes and records Yamaha pianos. His suggestions were very helpful in helping me understand my reactions to the CD. We listened to the CD in his mixing room on what is certainly the best stereo in the best listening environment I have experienced. The music was not bad. It is certainly smooth and edited to perfection. I don't even disagree with the choice of dynamics. My friends opinion is that the recording was made in a large empty hall and miked at a distance. This gives the oposite effect that I expect from a reproducing piano. The base is virtually non existant. The long persistant reverb (which I initially and incorredtly attributed to bad recording techniques) lends a very discomforting and lonely effect. It sounds like a machine playing with no one listening. This is the oposite of what I expect from a reproducing piano, especially a recording of a showman like Gershwin. On my pretty good stereo at home I just kept increasing the volume, hoping to hear the performance but just kept hearing more more volume.
If anyone is interested in hearing a fine recording of a reproducing piano performance (this one might not really count according to some criteria) check out, Dick Hyman Plays Fats Waller, recorded on the Bosendorfer SE. I would certainly buy this piano roll.
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(Message sent Sun 20 Oct 1996, 06:15:51 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.) |
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