Schubert-Godowsky Cradle Song, a fake and a real.

[iumonito]

A few days ago in another thread there was a little discussion about the merits of accoustic recordings and one of the arguments in support of accoustic recordings is that they are more real, can't be tampered with, etc.

Here is me playing lovingly although not yet very knowledgeably Schubert Godowsky's Wiegenlied.

[iumonito]

And here is the fake one.  I did not play it at this tempo (which by the way, I do not like, much too fast for my taste).  I modified this using Audacity so that it would be about 140 seconds, which is Godowsky's suggested approximate duration.  I am sure he could get away with playing it that fast and still make it sweet and slumber-inducing.

 

[arensky]

Very interesting. How does this not affect the pitch? The fake may have been a bit sharp but I'm not sure. It certainly did sound mechanical in a way that the original did not, the flow of your untouched playing ( very nice btw, lovely tone ) did not sound natural at the faster speed but akward.

I'll have to try this myself, I use Audacity for recording. It seems that it's more trouble to go through this mechanical process than to learn to actually play the piece in tempo. It's one thing to take a piece with no or little tempo variation but imagine doing this to the 1st movement of the Schumann Fantasy or a Chopin Ballade, where there are so many changes of mood and tempo; then extensive editing enters the picture. Easier to just learn the piece...

[iumonito]

I agree.  Plus, it is dishonest.

In Audacity, go to change Tempo.  You can set the total duration you want.  Really perfect for the likes of Op. 10 No. 2 or whatever his name is.

It does not affect pitch.

I am developing a hunch that speeding up is more common than I though in commercial recordings, since whenever.

Thanks for the comments on the original.  I am trying to develop a mental model at the speed suggested by Godowsky, so I may try it again in a few weeks (along with Alt Wien, perennial perfecting projects).