Zenph, a North Carolina software company has just released a new recording of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould performing the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. As intrepid Shine readers know, Gould is long dead, so how did Zenph do it?

The company has designed software that reads the pitch, duration, attack intensity, and dynamics of the original recording. The software is even sensitive enough to pick up acoustical variation. The program is then used to play a Yamaha Disklavier Pro, an acoustic piano that can, with a computer’s help, play back with microscopically accurate timing and sensitivity. The result is a new recording of a performance that scientifically matches the earlier one. [Suite 101 and NPR.org]

Zenph will be turning to Jazz next and the back catalog of Art Tatum.