GG: Re: Sony Vandalism :-)

["Gerald J. Cho" <venom@interaccess.com>]

I think GG would have approved the Sony CDs.  GG was a perfectionist when
it came to his records and he would have eliminated any non musical "effects",
if the technology was available to do so.  One of the downfalls of live
concert is the audience distractions (coughing, sneezing, etc).  Wouldn't
chair creaking and humming be the equivalent of audience distractions in
records?  Granted, GG did not think his humming was a big deal.  But I
think he realized that it did bother many listeners and would not
have objected to minimizing his vocal contribution.  When he recorded
the 2, 3 part inventions, he wrote an apology (actually a medical
explanation) about the piano's effects (hiccups).  In the liner notes,
GG wrote, "However, in our best of all worlds, we would hope to preserve
the present sound while reducing the hiccup effect, so as the television
card says [...] - 'stay tuned in: we're fixing it."  While charmed by the
piano's idiosyncrasy, GG did not believe it belonged in the record.  So if
you buy my reasoning, shouldn't we tune in? because Sony has fixed it.

Eric also wrote that the "ping" in Pathetic is missing.  I am guessing
that he believes the tone of the piano has changed a bit.  As long as the
new "duller" sony piano tone doesn't cloud the clarity of the 
contrapunctal lines, GG probably would not mind the change too much. I
think GG once said that he did not like the sound of the piano.  The
reason he chose that instrument is because its the best medium to tackle
contrapunctal music.
 
Gerald Cho



On Mon, 26 Aug 1996, Cline, Eric wrote:

> I agree with Mary Jo, the new Sony CD's of GG's music do indeed appear
> to have been "sanitized" of some of the extra "sound effects". I
> remember as a boy hearing GG play the Op.10 Beethoven Sonatas and
> hearing some strange noises on the record which sounded like singing ! I
> was certain that the record was defective and so I returned it only to
> find my replacement had the same "defect", it was then that I noticed
> the disclaimer on the back of the cover which said that GG's chair was
> responsible for the noise and that Columbia records was trying to have a
> noiseless replacement made for GG, but that he refused to give up his
> chair even to the Smithsonian Institute. It urged us as connoisseurs of
> music not to allow the noise to bother us. On the Columbia CD of those
> same recordings the "sound effects" are greatly reduced, and on the Sony
> CD, they are reduced even more, plus the "ping" seems to be missing
> especially from the "Pathetique" sonata. I wish Sony (and Columbia) had
> left well enough alone and not "improved" the recordings. These "sound
> effects" too are part of the GG experience.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> Eric Cline 
> Senior Research and Development Chemist
> Radiation Technology Synthesis Group
> Reichhold Chemicals Inc.
> e mail: eric.cline@reichhold.com
> 
> >----------
> >From: 	Mary Jo Watts[SMTP:mwatts@rci.rutgers.edu]
> >Sent: 	Sunday, August 25, 1996 9:50 PM
> >To: 	f_minor@email.rutgers.edu
> >Subject: 	GG:Orlando G.
> >
> >I don't think GG was being at all tongue-in-cheek by stating that
> >Orlando Gibbons was his favorite composer. Listen to the Allemande
> >Italian Ground [available on Images, and the Consort of Musicke CD]--
> >IMHO 1:53 minutes of pure Gouldian ecstasy.  I find the anthems he
> >loved so much haunting (and a profound influence on the Solitude
> >Trilogy.) The Deller Consort recording I have is very good and it's on
> >Victrola Records LP VICS-1551 and it's entitled _Thy Celestial
> >State_. I also quite like the Gibbons Anthems sung by the Clerkes of 
> >Oxenford-- two volume LP set on the Nonesuch label Catalogue #'s
> >H-71391 [Vol 1] and H-71374 [Vol 2]. I don't know if they're available
> >on CD but you could likely order them through: 
> >
> >The Princeton Record Exchange  
> >20 S. Tulane St.
> >Princeton, NJ 08542
> >USA
> >Tel. (609) 921-0881 
> >
> >I believe they ship all over the world and I've managed to collect
> >about 80 GG LPs through them including the Silver Jubilee LP, The
> >Concert Dropout LP, the organ Art of the Fugue, the Harpsichord Handel,
> >some bootlegs, etc. and other Gould relevent recordings such as the
> >Gibbons, and two versions of Karajan's Sibelius 5th, etc. I should
> >also add that I've never paid more than $8 US for ANY of the
> >Gould stuff, including the boxed sets like _Glenn Gould Plays
> >Bach_. The Gibbons LPs were $3 US a piece. The 1st Goldbergs in the orig.
> >cover
> >was I think 4$, the 2nd Goldbergs on LP run approx. 2$.  I found
> >buying the LPs was a good way to get the GG catalogue very inexpensively.
> >[Plus you get the great packaging and ALL the humming, creeking,
> >clicking and moaning!] Is it just me or do the CD's sometimes seem to strip
> >away that Gould ping-- the crispness?
> >
> >-Mary Jo
> >
> 
>