Gershwin CD - Yet Another Opinion

This topic has been too interesting not to dive into.

Unlike the majority of the readership here (at least as far as I can
detect) I come at this from the music side versus the instrument side.

I think there's an important issue with the Gershwin Cds and, more
significantly, some meaningful outcomes that go beyond just the sound
of the recordings.

First, there's the sound of the Cds themselves - a topic many are
passionate about.  A lot of time and trouble went into making these the
best sounding Cds possible.  The extra effort shows.

Unfortunately, like some of the other Digest members, I don't find a
solenoid driven piano quite as satisfying to listen to as one that is
pneumatically driven.  Is it a big difference?  No.  But, I would
rather listen to my Klavier Lps of the same material just because I
prefer the sound of the original instruments.  This may have a lot to
do with the fact that I've literally grown up around these
pneumatically driven machines and this is the sound that I'm accustomed
to hearing.  It would be interesting to hear what "Joe Public" prefers
- pneumatically driven or solenoid (given a choice).

Obviously "Joe Public" is not deterred by the sound quality of Artis'
recordings because they're buying them in droves.

It's easy though to focus on one small aspect of the project and miss
the bigger picture - that is, the effect these recordings are causing
on the music community at large.  First, Artis' determined work through
the Gershwin project and now through her series on Pearl, is awakening
the public to this whole world of talented piano artists/arrangers of
the twenties and thirties.  She's exposing scads of people to the
talents of Arden and Ohman, Pauline Alpert and the like.  And the
public is saying "yeah, this really is great stuff - why haven't we
heard this before!".

Of no less importance, she's pioneered a whole new method of playing
and recording these vintage performances.  With the help of others, she
successfully converted the Duo-Art coding to a form the Disk Klavier
could interpret.  In doing so, she's taken the music out of the limited
domain of the player piano enthusiast and thrust it into a medium that
can be enjoyed by a much larger number of people.  The music has always
been great but the public had no easy way of accessing it.  There also
wasn't someone championing it until now - so the combination of the two
has helped to make the music a hit.

I remember hearing Artis on a SF Bay Area radio show in 1984, talking
about the importance of going back and listening to the original
recordings of these people like Gershwin.  Back then you could here the
real passion she has for the music.  Those of us who love this stuff
are excited to see others get excited about (and it also confirms that
we weren't just crazy for liking these things).

Note:  The "Gershwin Plays Gershwin" CD by Laserlight may be taken from
the earlier Klavier release of the same name.  The Klavier LP recorded
Gershwin's original roll performances from a Duo-Art.  I believe
Klavier is making Cds now so it's interesting that they didn't release
it themselves.

Paul Johnson¶
The Piano Roll Shop