Customer Reviews

Bach: The Goldberg Variations 1955 Performance: Zenph Re-performance

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have lived with this historic recording through all its manisfistations - mono, enhanced mono, remix, digital remix and now Zenph rerecord. The reuslts are just incredible on this new release and Gould himself would have been the first to applaud.

These grumpy people stuck in the past are pains -- they are the same people who screamed when vinyl lp disappeared, still pine away for Milinov and the good old days.

Give yourself a thrill and listen to this disc with headphones - especially the one that simulates Gould's actual left hand- right hand playing - that alone is worht the price of the cd.

What a spectacular progress in technology. Gould himself would have been much interested in this. It is rightful that Gould, and his Goldberg variation (1955) was chosen as the first project by Zenph. Question remains in whether he would have approved the release or not. In this recording, the definition of each tone is not sharp enough to represent Gould's persistence on precision. If Gould had known that this will come out with this timbre, not with the hard monoral, would he have played according to the same interpretation? On the other hand, one could simply enjoy this as one new version of his Goldberg. It might not have been as apparent if the same technology was applied on pieces like Chopin. In this regard, performance by Cortot (there is a rumor that Zenph is working on Cortot after Gould) might be juicy. In any case, this is definitely a unique achievement that provokes an argument on "the separation of composer, performer, and the audience" that Gould had intended in his time, as well as expectations for further technological advances. Worth a try.
In addition, could somebody reproduce his hum along with the piano performance? Stand-alone performance without the sign of Gould's presence is rather eerie.

I was skeptical about this enterprise. Why? Wasn't the original enough? In a sense, it was. I consider this a variation on that theme. I think Mr. Gould would have been intrigued himself. The sound on the instrument is wonderful, if not superior to the original mono. The technique is there. The vocalizations aren't(!). A binaural version for headphones is included.

Recommended!

I grew up listening to this recording, in it's original form, and frankly I wish I could be more critical. I could cite all sorts of references concerning the type of piano and the microphone placement etc... It would make me seem more credible. I could also state the obvious and say that Glenn Gould is not present in this recording. That might make me look even better. The truth is that I find this version of Gould's recorded performance interesting and of value. Not because it somehow replaces the "original" but because it lends, by it's clarity, additional insight into the man's genius without the distractions of a 1950's era recording.

I've been a performing musician for over thirty years (not a pianist and not a stereo enthusiast). To me, all recorded music, regardless of technique, is reproduction. This new technique does not in any way reproduce what a live performance by Gould would have been. But neither does anything else. A live performance is with a real musician on a real instrument in a real concert hall, before a real audience. Anything else is just another reproduction. So as a reproduction, this CD is wonderful. To judge it harshly because it lacks Gould's "presents" is not honest in that he is hardly "present" in any of the other recordings and to compare it to memories of a live performance would be equally unfair. Also unfair, and disrepectful, are the claims that this is in someway a "re-performance". It is not, in the same way as a stereo recording is not. Gould was not at the piano when this was "performed" live. Those who saw this performance did not see a performance by Gould, the simply saw a demonstration of the latest technology of music reproduction.

This recording brings up some disturbing questions: What is it that constitutes a musician's soul? Is it merely the sounds he/she produces or is there something else? Something that can't be defined by either the senses or the intellect? If you have only heard a musician's performances through recordings, have you actually heard them? Could it be that some of us find it difficult to like this recording because it seems to suggest that a person's genius can somehow be reduced to zeros and ones? What about reducing it to analog grooves in a plastic disk? Or punch-holes in a player-piano roll? Each method of reproduction has it's strengths and weaknesses. But none of them is the same as seeing Glen Gould, a young man at the beginning of his career, play this wonderful music. The best we can do is listen to reproductions and use our imaginations. As reproductions go, this one is among the best. As imagination goes, your mileage may vary.

Hi, I am a pianist and piano music fan, and when I read about the new Glenn Gould CD, I felt that I couldn't pass on this one. When I received it in the mail, I opened it and listened to it. The performance sounded wonderful on my headphones. I especially loved the headphone version on tracks 33 through 64, and it made me feel like I was Gould himself behind the piano without his humming or creaky chair in the background. Then I decided to compare this Zenph version to the original 1955 version, but they didn't quite sound the same. The left hand sounded a little too quiet, and the fast and loud variations like 12 and 28 didn't sound aggressive enough. So I did more research on the internet and found out that the original was compressed a bit and in mono. So I decided to compress the Zenph recording on my computer and convert it to mono. I used the headphone version from tracks 33 onwards because it had less reverberation than the first 32 tracks. That way, I could clearly hear any differences in the two recordings. After compressing and downmixing to mono, the new Zenph version matched the original exactly except for slightly more reverberation. The left hand volume increased a bit, and the faster variations sounded more aggressive. So I concluded that this was really how Gould played it in 1955 if the compression was stripped altogether and if the room had more echo.

A friend of mine is a Yamaha piano technician and he got tickets for my wife and I to attend the recording of the Zenph re-issue at the Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto. It was such a mystical and magical experience, I heard pianists say that "Gould's ghost had walked into the room". The concert was astounding. That's why I bought the CD.
I'm listening to it as I write this and rate it 5 stars.

This masterful re-edition allows the new generations may even get closer to what this recording meant in 1955 for the musical universe. It's hard to guess how many listeners became music lovers of this genre, because of Gould was -if I may- the first and possibly the greatest artistic achievement in the history of the music.

These Goldberg meant a true openess and at the same time the most convincing proof the classic music was far to be considered a status issue reserved just for a minory. Besides it illuminated the interpretative flame of many new pianists who understood had became an icon of the instrument and a key force in what Bach's music concerned.

The superb quality of sound is outstanding, and due the fact that 25 years ago Gould left us, we have the suspect there will be mnusch more pleasant surprises of Sonny in what concerns new releases of this genius of the keyboard.

I have read several critiques of this "re-performance" claiming that it falls short of the original. While this may be true, I am unfamiliar with the original and find this to be a truly moving and beautiful reproduction. Within minutes of my first listen, I forgot about the technology that made the album possible and found myself captivated by Gould's brilliance.

It's to be expected that music lovers will compare the Zenph performance against the original, but I think listeners should also try enjoying this CD on its own merits. It's a great way for those of us accustomed to high quality recordings to appreciate a great performance of the past.

The original 1955 recording was something that changed my life almost twenty years ago; when I was in middle school, my piano teacher loaned me a copy of it to listen to. That was my first introduction to Glenn Gould. His playing completely changed the way I thought about the piano (much to the alarm of my piano teacher who actually disliked Gould.)

But I was always bothered by the sound quality of the original recording. To me, it sounds muffled and for lack of a better word, blurry. It impedes the listener from fully appreciating Gould's abilities to bring out the all the different voices of Bach. After all, that's what distinguishes Gould from other Bach pianists. So what Zenph has done is absolutely exciting to me- I can hear all the voices with far more clarity making the experience of listening to it that much more rewarding. It sounds more like the Gould I know than the original recording.

Absolutely amazing. This is the most significant technological breakthrough since high-definition / flat screen TV.