GG: Goldberg '81 CD vs video

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

Matthew van Wollen wrote:

>My name is Matthew and this is my first posting.  The '81 Goldberg
>recording by Gould is the first CD I ever purchased, in 1981. To this day
>it is my favourite CD of all, bar none. I have listened to it probably
>1,000 times. Based on this rather extensive listening experience, as well
>as having a musical ear from 20 years of piano study and performance, I
>have practically memorized the '81 CD.
>
>I recently watched the video recording from the same year, and noticed
>subtle differences between the video and CD versions. I would like to ask
>if anyone has noticed this as well. It seems that Gould used slightly
>different splices for each.  Comments?


Hello Matthew, welcome!

Chapter 15 of Friedrich's book describes those sessions and the
production.  Here's an excerpt:

'Gould seems to have observed a kind of double standard about the video
and audio versions of _The Goldberg Variations_.  Because he could be seen
playing the music in the filmed version, he was slightly less demanding
about the quality of the sound; because the recording depended entirely on
sound, he wanted that perfect.  "They were both meant to be the same,"
Monsaingeon recalls, "but what happened in fact was that there are a few
notes in the record which are different from the film.  But just a few
notes.  For example, one is the final note of the twenty-fifth, the slow
variation in G minor.  On the film, you can see him, with his right hand,
doing this--well, actually, what he's doing, he's conducting a cello.
Because he felt that last note was always slightly too loud, and he wanted
to keep the cello down.  So he redid that last note for the recording.
He thought it was quite good enough for the film, because, you know, the
picture compensates, but he felt that this particular note should be
redone for the record."'


Anyone here have a detailed list of these differences between the film and
the record?  I too notice a few spots in passing whenever I watch the
video (which isn't very often) but I've never troubled to write them down.
Matthew?


Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
home: http://i.am/bpl  or  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
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"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only sparks
from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot