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Glenn Gould piano recording of Beethoven

I have quite a few CD recordings of Glenn Gould playing Beethoven. By the way I know many people would disagree but I think he is by far the best when it comes to playing Beethoven early and middle period piano sonata. My favorite is his interpretation of Opus 10 No.3 second mvt. I think I saw heaven when I listen to it. Others made it sound like they are doing an exercise.

Anyway, one annoying thing I notice is that the soundstage is very messy. The left hand and right hand notes are all over the place. Some times on the same piece , the right hand notes are on the left of the soundstage but then later on it would reappear on the right side. It sounds like some sort of special effect was applied to the recording. I don't think it is my system because other piano recordings (done by other pianist) sound just fine.

Does anyone hear the same thing as I do?
andy2
11 responses Add your response
vvrinc
323 posts
 
It's (the former) Columbia Records...what else needs to be said!

Since I began collecting records many years ago, I can't recall even one decent-sounding production. And, please, let's not even speak of their crappy vinyl.
gregm
3,405 posts
 
Actually, I have the original LP & the same complaint as Vvrinc. It is not AS bad on my system (not that it's good -- by ANY stretch of the imagination!). There is a strange difference between the left hand & the right, as if they were recorded separately...
Maybe I have less reflections? Whatever the case may be Gould, as you say, offers an excellent performance -- so we have to live with that recording. Oh well
brooksl
129 posts
 
I noticed that very oddity last night and thought I had a phase problem. I am glad to read that others have heard the same and it is not by ears or gear.
andy2 OP
1,549 posts
 

GG is known to do extensive editing on his recordings by himself. It is very possible for a given movement, he would put together pieces from many takes which may have different mixing altogether.
gabbro
88 posts
 
I think it is a relict of Sony Classical engineering from that time period. If you listen to the Leonard Bernstein Beethoven symphonies, you will hear similar weirdness, which includes the soundstage swirling back and forth (try listening to the crescendo early in the 1st movement of symphony #2 for example - it is like a poor 60's psychodelic effect). It annoys me so much that I must listen to this using the mono switch.
meta
20 posts
 
I agree with Andy2 - supposedly GG used to re-play the fragments of the composition he did not like and was inserting new recording (on tape) to the parts he thought were perfect. Sometimes it happend few days after the first "take" so the microphone set-up varied, hence the differences
zargon's avatar
zargon
453 posts
 
I believe a combination of speaker and room acoustics can also cause image wander. Try it for yourself. Take a CD with a frequency sweep and listen for imaging centering. You may hear the center moving back and forth especially in the 400 to 1000 Hz range. It can be especially disconcerting when a piano runs through these octaves. It is caused by a combination of crossover phasing, and comb filtering in the room, IMO.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,197 posts
 
I am listening to gould playing bach partita #6 in e minor. As good of a piano recording and performance as i have heard! Absolutely marvelous!
andy2 OP
1,549 posts
 
Bach partita #6 is one my favorite. Gould likes to play a piece that lets him be a little creative. I don't think he enjoys playing something that forces him to play a certain way. Maybe that explains why he never plays Chopin or the odd ways he plays Beethoven late piano sonata because you pretty has to play the way Beethoven intended.
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
"you pretty has to play the way Beethoven intended"

Isn't that the point of playing Beethoven? That's why he wrote it down on paper and put all those notations in Italian on the page. It ain't Jazz.
chayro
2,984 posts
 
Yeah, but "Allegro" ain't what it used to be.
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