New analog master for Gould's 1981 Goldberg Variation

I bought the new Glenn Gould set yesterday: "Glenn Gould:A State of Wonder". The 3 disk set features both of Gould's Goldberg recordings and another disk with an interview and some outtakes of the 1955 recording. It's a bargain at under $20.

Of technical interest, however, is the use of the analog backup tapes instead of the digital master for the '81 version.
The analog tapes were edited using the original producer's score and notes to make a new analog master.

Here's a sampling of the producer's note:
"...digital technology delivered a very clean, quiet sound...but it was also brittle, compressed, and not quite 'musical' to many listener's ears."

He goes on:
"Fortunately, as a precaution, most records were recorded simultaneously onto high-output analogue tape...
With properly aligned machines and perfectly calibrated Dolby units, analogue's fidelity was far superior to anything digital had to offer".

I've been able to do some listening and I'm very impressed. They did a beautiful job on both the '55 and '81 remasters.
I'd love to compare this issue to the SACD of the '81, which used the digital master.

Dan C

 

Thanks for posting that, Dan ... I used to have the CD using the digital source and I sold it because I didn't like the sound, for the usual (digital) reasons. Digital instantly became standard for classical music all at once, around 1981. I wonder how many other recordings have analog backup reels that could be used to generate new analog masters?

It's terribly unlikely; but if only Deutsche Grammophon had made analog backup tapes of Carlos Kleiber's Tristan and Isolde (1982 and very harsh early digital)! -- or Bernstein's DG Mahler recordings, later but still very bright, hard and sort of "bodiless"... they hurt me.

 

Thank you for the report Dan. I heard a feature on this release on NPR the other weekend and the few Gould snippets they played sounded interesting.

I recall that Michael Fremer reported that during the recent Rolling Stones remastering project, an analog tranfer was done simultaneously along with the DSD.

 

That'd be nice, if it lacks the noise-shaping and other distortions of the digital stream. I don't suppose they plan to do anything with those tapes, though?

 

I was able to listen to the '81 again in it's entirety yesterday and I'm even more impressed than before. It's truly a beautiful recording. Close in, yes, since Gould hummed and such. But the piano has has a wonderful tone and 'ring' to it without sounding clangy or shrill. This is a much better way to listen to Gould's playing, it left me with a lump in my throat more than once while listening.

I don't doubt that it'll see an SACD release soon, which will be even more incentive for me to buy a player.
Hey, and wouldn't it be cool for us vinyl fans if Classic cut an LP with the new analog master?

I agree about other recordings with analog masters, however. I think CBS was in a unique position in this case, since it was recorded at their studio and not on location. I don't know if it would be worth the trouble and expense to set up analog and digital during a location recording. This is also such a legendary recording that still sells well enough to justify editing a new master (I'm sure the studio time ran way up during that).

Dan C