Re: Something more Gouldian . . .

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

Hey, Mark:

I'm not at all sure about how GG might have responded to/interacted
with MIDI technology.  On the one hand, the easy access to *many*
different sounds and tonal colors would probably have attracted him.
He loved SWITCHED ON BACH, for example, and enthused about the MOOG
synthesizer's timbral and expressive capabilities in the realization
of Bach.  That was almost 30 yrs. ago!

On the other hand, he seemed to be very wired into the specific
*tactile* sense that one gets from moving a key, which controls a
hammer, that hits a string and then flies back in a very predictable
way to generate a piano ADSR.

As a keyboardist, I'm *nowhere* near GG's level, but I find even
very good MIDI controllers sort of a drag to play.  The weighting
and ballistics are never quite right and the lack of a direct mechanical
sensation with the tone-producing mechanism is always a bit off-putting.
One can certainly *adjust* (kind of like playing Clavinet, Rhodes,
Wurlitzer and a PF80 all in one session), but there's just nothing
like the feeling of *connectedness* that one gets from interacting
directly with a nice, responsive Steinway D.  One of the things GG
hated most about touring, after all, was having to deal with a wide
variety of awful pianos;  he said that in some cases, the only way he
could get through a particular concert was to completely *ignore* the
instrument he was having to play.  So, the tactile thing seems to have
been pretty important to him.

Still, it's hard to say.  Oscar Peterson liked the Synclavier enough
to own one.  And I recently saw a VH1 special on THE BAND that showed
keyboard virtuoso Garth Hudson in his home studio playing a MIDI
controller that was firing a very tired-sounding tine piano-ish patch.
Yeesh...time to spin that old live version of THE GENETIC METHOD from
ROCK OF AGES...

greetings to the collective......maybe that should have been RACH of AGES?

jh


On Thu, 8 May 1997, Mark Williamson wrote:

> 
>      So we have finally reached a consensus to talk about things 
>      more Gouldian (I have tried to be as neutral as possible on 
>      this; IMHO you're *all* wonderful).  What do you think about 
>      playing *certain* Goldberg Variations on the piano?  That 
>      is, the ones marked "two claviers," not "1 clavier" or "1 or 
>      2 claviers?"  Of the ones marked "two claviers," there are 
>      one or two that come off fine on a single keyboard, but most 
>      of them are about ten times as difficult on one keyboard as 
>      they are on two, because of the fingering complications.
>      
>      Now, admittedly, Mr. Gould pulls it off beautifully.  And I 
>      suppose for a player of his ability, there is no 
>      philosophical question presented at all.  But for mortal 
>      players, is it worth all the time it takes to work these 
>      things out solely in order to master a difficulty that Mr. 
>      Bach never intended?  I mean, for all the talk about Bach 
>      not being an "idiomatic" composer, he really does try to 
>      think about the player and what the everyday player is 
>      capable of.
>      
>      If one does not have ready access to a two-keyboard organ or 
>      harpsichord, one solution is to buy a couple of Roland A-30s 
>      (a *bargain* at $630 a pop) and wire them into your MIDI 
>      system . . .  I possess one of these beauties already and am 
>      tempted to buy another just for this purpose.  I have 
>      previously posted my opinions speculating that Mr. Gould 
>      would by this time be a MIDI fanatic if he were still alive.
>      
>      Warm, fuzzy feelings to all of you.
>      
>      Mark
> 
> 
>