Klarinet Archive - Posting 000416.txt from 2005/01

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] RE: Edison recordings
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 13:06:58 -0500

<<<I seem to recall a recent discussion about the gliss. I happened to
be=20
looking around and found a very interesting site for the Menlo Park=20
Museum of Thomas Edison which has some fascinating vintage recordings.=20
There are some early Sousa Band recordings, Caruso, etc, and also the=20
original acoustic recording of Rhapsody in Blue, recorded shortly after=20
the premier of the work. It is fascinating listening.>>>

It is indeed fascinating. I applaud their attempt to preserve the old
recordings just the way they existed in the beginning. However, I wish
they also would make available some versions which would try to restore
the music to the way it originally sounded before being processed by the
recording process. For example, the recording of "Stars and Stripes
Forever" is at about 132 beats per minute, and as a result it is in the
keys of E Major and A Major, rather then the original D and G. If
slowed to the tempo that Sousa would have taken, which would have been
no faster than 120, the keys would be correct, and the instruments would
sound more like what actually would have been heard in the beginning.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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