becoming

Just don’t know what to make of it at this point. Even though I first blog about it 2 years ago.

In 1955, a young and promising pianist recorded Bach’s monumental Goldberg’s Variations. When released in 1956, this recording made him a star, and then into a legend.

His name is Glenn Gould.

What is unfortunate of that recording is that it is trapped in the sound-world of the 50’s. How can you improve on something that is locked forever in monaural sound? The recording which was made at the CBS studio that year now posed a great challenge to all music fans and sound engineers.

Then in September 25, 2006, Zenph Studios recorded its debut re-performance to standing ovations in the CBC’s famed Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, which would have been Glenn Gould’s 74th birthday.

The technology is simple enough to understand: Audio recordings are turned back into “live” performances, precisely replicating what was originally recorded. A software-based process discovers how every note would have been played, extracting the musical nuances of a recorded performance and storing the data in a high-resolution data file (Hi-res MIDI). Re-performance files are then played back using a real acoustic grand piano fitted with sophisticated computers and hardware, letting the listener “sit in the room” as if he or she were there when the original recording was made. Most importantly, the re-performance can be recorded afresh, using the latest microphones and recording techniques, to modernize monophonic or poor-quality recordings of beloved performances.

The result is a new recording of the 1955 performance in 2007!

I have not finish listening to the whole album. But it is certainly different, I can at least tell you that. It is definitely Gould’s playing, and yet it is not — no more of his signature humming at the back; some new notes are accented and some are softened. It is like looking at a hybrid — you just don’t know what to make of it or how to approach it. You lack the language to describe what you are looking at, or in this case, listening to. And you feel very perplexed.

I feel quite perplexed.

But it definitely worths the US$13.99 price tag!

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.