Zenph.com as featured in NY Times

[orbital]

This story from NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/arts/music/12conn.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin

It was only a matter of time before this could be done of course. In short what the company does is take an old recording, run the music through their proprietary software and come up with a complete breakdown of the performance. Timing, dynamics, pedals (even fingering). They take this data and run it through the computer to arrive at a digital data file which then they feed through a modern piano (Yamaha Disklavier in this case).
The reviewer talks about the Gould 55 Goldberg recording which the company applied their technology to, and says he found some faults in the end result, but fails to say what is it that he found missing. The recording is going to be released through BMG soon, and it would be interesting to hear it.

If the software can truly deduct the timing and dynamics to even more detail than the human ear can differentiate, then the only thing that I can think of is prejudice. That there is no one really playing it, and that perhaps is what may be missing.

For evaluation purposes, here is a Cortot performance before and after:
http://zenph.com/audio/Cortot-Chopin-Gmajor-1926.mp3
http://zenph.com/audio/Zenph-Chopin-Gmajor-2005.mp3

It of course feels weird to think that this is Cortot's interpretation, seems like a completely different one at first. But when youconsider that it is the same exact performance, perhaps the only thing that is missing is the hiss? 

With the copyrights on old recordings about to run out, there may be a big inflow of these recordings. Would you buy them? (and why not  )

[xanadudldu]

I doubt I would buy one, mainly because any two pianos are so different, and I don't think that whatever might be gained in cleaning up hiss, et al. would overcome what's lost in replacing the instrument that the pianist was in such intimate contact with with a different instrument and moving it all into a different acoustic environment.

Maybe if it was something really old -- like that cylinder of "Doktor Brahms, Doktor Johannes Brahms."

-xdld

[Drasko]

There was recently disscusion on this on rmcr as well

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.classical.recordings/browse_thread/thread/4c4abedf470d325e/5cbfa4d0266ad3a2#5cbfa4d0266ad3a2

[Bach_Man]

If they ventured into "live" performances it could become interesting. Being there with Gould's energetic 1955 Goldberg variations coming out of the playerless grand would border the bizarre.

But hey, finally they can get rid of the singing.

[orbital]

I doubt I would buy one, mainly because any two pianos are so different, and I don't think that whatever might be gained in cleaning up hiss, et al. would overcome what's lost in replacing the instrument that the pianist was in such intimate contact with with a different instrument and moving it all into a different acoustic environment.

-xdld

The piano sound is one ingredient. But, this is not all we really love about Gould's Goldberg. If he happened to use a different piano, can you say his performances would be any less stellar?

Also, -apart from Gould- not all pianists are associated with a 'special' piano. Most of them played a variety of different pianos at different times, and in general if we happen to like the pianist, what piano he used during which session is only of secondary importance in general.

Don't get me wrong, I doubt if I'd buy any myself, but I can't help but think that this is only because of our prejudices and our preconceived notions about how this or that pianist is associated with an old sound.

Actually, if they made one for de Pachman I'd definitely go for it

[xanadudldu]

The piano sound is one ingredient. But, this is not all we really love about Gould's Goldberg. If he happened to use a different piano, can you say his performances would be any less stellar?

I think you can. Just moving from one Steinway to another takes a lot of adaptation w r t the registration, responsiveness of the keys, etc. I don't think it is a matter of being fond of the old sound (which in my case is electronically remastered artificial stereo) but more the fact that you have put the pianist in a different context, wherethe choices he made for one instrument are forced onto another.

This is a similar problem with most reissues of mechanical piano recordings. It is critical that the reproducing piano match the recording piano as closely as possible, registration, key weight, etc, and that the reproducing piano be in good shape. You can certainly tell the difference when you hear this done well and when it is not (the usual case).

So i don't really have so much trouble with the 55 Goldberg, but I'd like to hear the de Pachmanns (as long as they do it using Chopin's underwear.

-x