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Sony BMG planning new "re-performance" SACD for 2008

post #1 of 5
Thread Starter 
Multi-channel hybrid SACD with binaural version.

Quote:
LOS ANGELES " Sony BMG Masterworks and Zenph Studios have announced that a "re-performance" of legendary jazz pianist Art Tatum's 1949 recording "Piano Starts Here" will be held on Sept. 23, 2007 at 5 PM at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles - the site of the original live concert performance.
The re-performance, which is achieved through Zenph's music software technology, will be recorded by Sony BMG before a live audience for a forthcoming hybrid multichannel SACD/CD, to be released in early 2008. The re-performance will also include four songs Tatum recorded in 1933 that appear on "Piano Starts Here," including the jazz standard, "Tiger Rag."

Zenph's technology captures the musical nuances of the original piano recording's every note, with details about the pedal actions, volume and articulations " all with millisecond timings. The digital data is transcribed into high-resolution MIDI files and played back on a state-of-the-art Yamaha Disklavier Pro concert grand piano, allowing for the production of brand new renderings without the limitations of the original recording.

"It will be like going back to the moment of creation and hearing Tatum play in person," said John Q. Walker, President of Zenph Studios.

The producers and engineers will also record a binaural version of the re-performance; headphone playback will provide an experience that replicates what Tatum would have heard while he sat at the piano.

The Zenph re-performance also corrects problems that have accumulated since the original. A track on the current album titled "The Man I Love" omits excerpts from "Porgy and Bess" which Tatum performed during the original concert; Zenph has restored about two minutes of lost material.

Playback speed, slowed down on the album tracks, has been corrected, so Tatum actually plays faster than has typically been thought. And, a tape glitch during "Humoresque" that mars the current re-issue will be corrected.

Zenph's first album, a re-performance of pianist Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, received critical acclaim and spent nine weeks on the Billboard Classical Top Ten chart this summer.
post #2 of 5

Re: Sony BMG planning new "re-performance" SACD for 2008

An interesting idea concept. I wonder whos job it is to determine "pedal actions, volume and articulations to the millisecond", as these pieces were played some six and seven decades ago. I doubt the orignal recording were accompanied by high-speed close-up films of the performance.

That being said, I feel somewhat sorry for the "live audience". Imagine buying tickets to a "historical jazz event", only to discover you'll be watching a very high-tech player piano with nobody at the controls.
post #3 of 5

Re: Sony BMG planning new "re-performance" SACD for 2008

I have the Gould "re-performance" disc and it's quite nice. It's tough for me to consider it a Gould performance, but it's also tough to discount it as being Gould as well.
Simply put, it's a great performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations with stellar sound quality - regardless of who's actually playing.

I guess these re-performance releases are limited to piano only. I don't know how easy/hard other instruments can be duplicated.
post #4 of 5

Re: Sony BMG planning new "re-performance" SACD for 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Colella
I guess these re-performance releases are limited to piano only. I don't know how easy/hard other instruments can be duplicated.
I would imagine brass & woodwinds being the easiest, followed by most percussion, keyboards, and lastly strings in order of difficulty. But I'm also going to guess that a computerized French Horn capable of recreating every nuance of the world's greatest French Horn players isn't commercially viable.

I may sound skeptical but I'm actually quite impressed with the technology, you can read the full Disklavier article HERE.

Cliff's Notes:
*Disklavier is a special piano that can function as an ordinary piano. It can also record performances or function as an automatic player-style piano.
*Once recorded any performance can be sent via the 'net to any Disklavier piano.

So basically this represents the pinnacle of home entertainment technology for the playback of piano music. A CD of Chopin on a grand piano isn't going to sound as good as an actual grand piano playing Chopin.
post #5 of 5
Thread Starter 

Re: Sony BMG planning new "re-performance" SACD for 2008

More information on the upcoming re-performance
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