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Ancient performance with today's sonics...

I stumbled over a CD which I find of interest. Scott Joplin (of ragtime fame) made many piano rolls of his compositions. That was about a hundred years ago. But those rolls can be played back on a piano today and recorded with sonic fidelity that is lacking in the earliest phonograph recordings.

I bought Biograph CD 30159, which has about half the selections played by Scott Joplin himself. Somehow this makes the recording special. Audiowise, the piano is well recorded on this CD.
eldartford
dcrookham53
57 posts
 
What a great way to record an old master in his prime!
Thanks for sharing the information.
newbee
4,751 posts
 
Telarc did this for some of Rachmaninoff's piano rolls. Some of his own music and transcriptions, on 2 different CD's. Maybe not quite the same as a live performance but you'd have to do some very critical listening to note it. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Rachmaninoff....and modern technology.
eldartford OP
4,262 posts
 
Newbee...Piano rolls do not duplicate all the subtleties that a pianist can impart to the performance, so, because of this I think that ragtime/honky tonk music is more suitable than classical music for this media. Current versions of the automated piano do capture the pianists "touch", as well as the keys he hit, and can therefore give better results.
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