GG: 318 & Piano Sounds

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

Greetings to the Collective!

Lori Lalonde wrote:

"I find it ironic that CD 318 is now enshrined in a plexiglass
sarcophegous.  It was useless to GG.  Wouldn't it make more sense to
admire the Yamaha, GGs last piano used to record the '81 Variations?
This instrument is more of a tribute to what he wanted in a piano."


I disagree.  CD 318 is the instrument featured on all but a
few of the Columbia/Sony recordings spanning about 20 years.  The
Yamaha is only to be heard on the last few recordings GG made before
his death.

As a recording engineer, I would have to say that there is something
really special about the way Steinway D pianos (such as CD318) sound,
especially coming back from tape.  There's a unique "stringy" quality to
the mid-bass register and clarity to that instrument's sound that just
doesn't happen with anything else.  The young GG appreciated this, I think
(witness the beginning of "On the Record").  Later, I don't think the
actual *sound* of the instrument mattered a whole lot to him, whereas the
action surely did.

With regard to recorded piano sound (of which there has been much
discussion here recently) I would have to say that GG's recordings
are *anything* but consistent in this regard and, for the most part,
are *not* audiophile recordings.

The original ('55) Goldbergs are pretty dreadful from a sound quality
point of view;  I use them, in fact, for a critical listening course
that I teach for sound engineers.  The vinyl edition I grew up with
was a *disastrous* attempt at what was then called "pseudo-stereo",
wherein the original mono recording was electronically processed
(using phase and delay manipulations) to simulate someone's idea of
"stereo".  It basically sounded like a big, noisy and distant comb-
filter.  The later editions that went back to the original mono were
only slightly better.  Still *very* noisy, distorted, band-limited and
lacking in dynamic range.  Awesome pianism; marginal sound quality.

For my money, the most consistent and best-sounding GG recordings
were the ones from the mid- to late- 70s recorded by Kazdin using
CD318 in the Eaton Auditorium in downtown Toronto (yes, this was
*after* the famous accident, which happened in the early 70's).
Readers of the Kazdin book can find all of the relevent technical details
(use of three Neumann U87s and Ampex 440 analog machines with Dolby A-
type noise reduction, etc.).  Although GG certainly disliked the pieces,
the Toccata set holds up very well even now, IMHO.  GG and Kazdin
clearly agreed upon a (relatively) close microphone perspective.
I think that this, along with the actual sound of CD318, is what
makes these recordings so easy to identify (not to mention GG's
playing!!).

Re:  Inventions and Sinfonia
This was the first Gould album I owned and I've always loved it.
I think GG was absolutely correct in describing the hiccup effect
as "charming" and absolutely correct in not letting the record label
kill (or redo) the recording.  The performances on that disc are so
clean and inspired; could this mechanical-acoustical artifact have
spurred him on to an even higher-than-usual level of "repose" in his
playing?  I believe so.  When musicians in the studio are "jazzed"
about what they're doing, *that's* when you get a great performance.
If they're angry or depressed or "fighting" their instrument, you
might as well pack it up and go home for the day.


John Hill
Dept. of Recording Industry
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN