Over 9 hours Gould archive tapes!! (recording studio, at home, testing pianos)

[master_seymour_butts]

Hi guys

The other day I stumbled upon these tapes of Glenn Gould recording Brahms Ballades and Rhapsodies op.79, playing randomly at home, and testing pianos. I uploaded them onto Youtube, (it took ages).

HERE'S THE FULL PLAYLIST

I found these tapes really interesting, it offers an intimate listen into how Glenn Gould went about recording music, altogether the session was over 7 hours!

What do you guys think of these?

[awesom_o]

Fascinating! Thank you very much for sharing this!

[evitaevita]

This is amazing, real treasure!
Thank you for sharing!

[awesom_o]

This really shows the pure contempt which Gould held for the concert stage and the 'idea' of live performance.

There are other artists who record this way-using as many takes as they feel are necessary, even if it means having 25 takes of a short piece.

Some people feel that this approach is intellectually dishonest. Gould thought the opposite-he thought that it was intellectually dishonest to expect the very best performance from an artist each and every time they sit at their instrument. Since recordings are created with the intention of being listened to repeatedly, unlike live performances which are by definition a one-off, does it not make sense that recordings can be made using different processes if these processes help the artist to achieve a result he or she is happier with?

What do you think?

[outin]

Some people feel that this approach is intellectually dishonest. Gould thought the opposite-he thought that it was intellectually dishonest to expect the very best performance from an artist each and every time they sit at their instrument. Since recordings are created with the intention of being listened to repeatedly, unlike live performances which are by definition a one-off, does it not make sense that recordings can be made using different processes if these processes help the artist to achieve a result he or she is happier with?

What do you think?

I agree with you, recordings are special because they can be repeated and studied endlessly. So studio recordings should be as perfect as one can possibly create. I don't care if they are cut. I only mind if the sound is engineered too heavily. Live recordings are always great, but I listen to them with a different mindset.

[master_seymour_butts]

Some interesting insights into Gould's approach there. I really had no idea whether this was the norm, or whether some artists did it mostly all in one take. I would imagine that there are specific difficulties with either performing live or recording little by little, as Gould did. When you play live, you have to deal with your nerves a lot more, one take is all you get. However when recording, I find it fascinating how Gould manages to start playing at an arbitrary point, and the final recording sounds very well connected.

The links to the tapes of him testing pianos and practicing at home have been embedded, you'll find him singing a lot! Very fascinating!