GG: The CBC CDs -- Really GG?

[Tim Conway <timcon@comswest.net.au>]

G'day all,

I've been listening to the recently-received CBC CDs of the radio 
recordings made in the 1950s and have a query.

Some (very few, in fact) of the pieces, but in particular the first 
movement of the Italian Concerto, sound -- to me -- very un-Gouldlike. 
There seem to be a number of slowdowns, almost pauses, that I do not 
think are there in later versions. The slower pieces, naturally, do not 
exhibit this effect, but some of the faster and more regular 
pieces/movements do seem to have it. (One of GG's predominant traits was 
that he rarely slowed down at the difficult bits or the the bits where 
everyone else always slowed down. His metronomic intepretations are part 
of his charm.)

This effect can have 4 causes:

(1) I am imagining it
(2) GG was having an off-day when each recording was made
(3) GG, being in his early 20s, had not yet found his final 
interpretation of these pieces
(4) It is not GG playing

All 4 causes seem equally fantastic. Any comments?

[BTW, a recent New Scientist article (20th June 1998, p19) states that 
blue whales have an uncanny sense of rhythm: their songs repeat at 
exactly 128 second intervals, even though they may continue singing for 8 
days non-stop. Their songs consist of only 5 notes, each note lasting for 
128 seconds, but if a whale misses a note, it waits exactly 256 seconds 
before chiming in again. Blue whales are obviously digital creations (128 
= 2^8) and possibly, because of their metronomic tendency, related to GG. 
Another reason to ban whaling? ;-) ]


Tim Clothears
<timcon@comswest.net.au>
Broome, Western Australia