GG: The grass is always greener in the outtakes

["Bradley Lehman" <bpl@umich.edu>]

GG's essay "The grass is always greener in the outtakes" was published in
1975.  (See the _GG Reader_, p357)  It's about the use of splices in
constructing a recording, and he has a group of listeners try to guess where
the splices occur in various recordings.  It enlarges on the 1966 "The
Prospects of Recording" (_Reader_, p331), where he writes about assembling
new interpretations in the editing booth after the recording session is
over.

What's integrity in a recording?  How much should a recording resemble a
"live" situation?  How far should a performer and producer go in
regularizing/sanitizing a performance?

In that spirit I've set up a "Guess the Splice" contest of my own.  The
listening material is part of a clavichord recording that fellow f_minor
member John Hill and I made last summer.  The contest: try to guess which of
eight pieces has a splice in it, and identify the splice point within 10
seconds.  That is, seven of the examples are "live" with no internal edits,
while one has had cosmetic surgery for a small blemish; find it.

The prize for the first correct respondent is a sealed classical CD of
Schubert piano trios played by the Atlantis Ensemble on original instruments
(Wildboar 9703 or 9704, your choice).

  http://www.mp3.com/bpl

Good luck!  (The contest begins today and continues until someone wins.  Up
to two guesses per person per day...)

Bradley Lehman, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
Dayton VA