Re: New Technology Recaptures Pianists of the Past

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: June 1, 2007 9:42:36 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Re: [IP] New Technology Recaptures Pianists of the Past


Dave,

It's not really a fair comparison I know, but somehow this reminds
me of the B&W film colorization fad of some years ago.  I can see
novelty and academic value in the "reperformance" process, but
not much beyond that.

True, the dirty little "secret" of classical music recordings is
that since the invention of magnetic tape most of them are intensely
edited, often down to just one note at a time!  Still, those are at
least usually the originally recorded notes.

The classical music segment is dying, and this isn't the way to
inspire young artists with the rich history of the genre and perhaps
save it. "Not the real performance, but an amazing recreation" is a
novelty, not history.

Also, those comparison clips are not particularly convincing.  The
1926 example of course is something of a worst case, but could be
made *much* cleaner by removing the vinyl recording artifacts
through common audio processing techniques.  This leaves the original
artist's work without the need for computerized "reperformance."
And the 1955 recording sounded damned good as it was to my admittedly
not "golden ears."

Certainly interesting technology, but not classical's savior either.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
   - California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com

 - - -

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
> Date: May 31, 2007 8:20:50 PM EDT
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] New Technology Recaptures Pianists of the Past
>
> [Note:  This item comes from reader Mike Cheponis.  DLH]
>
> From: Mike Cheponis <mac () wireless com>
> Date: May 31, 2007 2:37:26 PM PDT
> Subject: New Technology Recaptures Pianists of the Past
>
> <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10439850>
>
> Truly amazing.  Listen to the "before" and "after" clips on that page.
>
> Bringing "yesterday's" music up to today's quality is just... amazing!
>
>
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