Both performances made the work sound seamless, and that is what ultimately matters.
Thoughtfully wrought interpretations of five of the Opus 25 Études highlighted the details of each, like the delicate arpeggios of No. 1 ("Aeolian Harp") and the juxtaposed rhythms of No. 2, which here sounded seamless and unrushed.
Saariaho's stroke of brilliance and imagination in these pieces is to make the connections between the live musicians and the other world of the tape and electronic sounds as seamless as possible.
While that warmonger had his "unknown unknowns", Ellaskins has mixes that sound so seamless you can't tell they're mixes, mixes that sound unintentional through their sheer intent to sound as unintentional as possible while being intentional.
The Jerusalem String Quartet, renowned for its warm, elastic sound and seamless musicianship, kicks off the celebration with the earliest works, the Opus 18 quartets, which they shared in an exquisite recording this summer.
Thile kept cajoling him with percussive snaps, flying runs, and chords strummed fast enough to sound as seamless as a purring strings section, inducing Mehldau (who can sometimes retreat into a slow-swaying trance) to bat back the playful provocation with stinging rejoinders.
But none of these feature automatic engineering tools that aim to make sound loops seamless, and actual white noise.
Here, the sound is seamless.
A tantalizing blend of sound and seamless coupling of immersive visuals are to be expected something tells us there will be lots of masks too.
I got the chance to speak with Mazin Gilbert, AT&T's AVP of Technical Research, about what this could mean over the next few months and years, and it sounds like useful, seamless translation might finally be in the pipeline.
