Re: Bach Toccata's

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

On Thu, 21 Jan 1999, Andrew Lance wrote:

> > The f# minor is a "train wreck."  First there's that huge problem of
> > pitch: there are at least ten very noticeable occasions where the pitch
> > jumps up or down from splices.  (Did they fix this in the latest GG
> 
> This is an interesting observation.  I never heard these splices--I'll 
> have to listen to it again.  

Here's an informal road map into the pitch shifts: no guarantee of
completeness.  Remember that this is the 1987 red-covered CD set M2K 42269
(Toccatas and Inventions).  I don't have the LP's handy at the moment for
comparison, nor the latest GG Edition where it might be fixed.

0'00" first note fades in with no attack
0'37" very short splice in and out? (a few notes seem slightly flat)
0'55" goes flat
1'05" goes flatter
5'27" new section slightly sharper?
5'57" much sharper
6'07" flat
6'40" sharp
6'48" flat
7'08" sharp
7'12" flat
7'35" a little flatter?
10'03" much sharper
11'44" end

Somewhere in the GG literature I also remember seeing an explanation or
apology by GG that this pitch shifting phenomenon wasn't deliberate, but
that it came from putting together takes from end and beginning of reel.  
(Still, reel-to-reel tape machines aren't supposed to do that....)  
Anybody have the reference handy?

Had GG already bought his own equipment by this point (1976), or was
Kazdin still hauling machines in from NYC?  There is no reference to
Kazdin's anagrammatic alter-egos "Frank Dean Dennowitz" or "Kent Warden"
on this issue of the Toccatas.

Bradley Lehman ~ Harrisonburg VA, USA ~ 38.45716N+78.94565W
bpl@umich.edu ~ http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/