ABSTRACT
Studying recorded performance traditions requires discographic information. The lack of a method to analyse and interpret recordings ensured that while countless musicologists and analysts focused on scores, recordings became the almost exclusive domain of critics, record purchasers, and record companies. Studies addressing recorded performance histories have focused on interpretative approaches such as duration, tempo, dynamics, and articulation in the solo instrument repertoire. General observations about the performance style of a certain era cannot be made based solely on such limited information. Focusing on recordings of solo repertoire ensures better results from the computer software, which functions more effectively with the sound of a single instrument. Bach's solo violin works are a common vehicle for those studying recorded performance traditions, in part because they consist of just a single instrumental line. The four Prelude recordings for violin and piano included in the set use either the Schumann or the Kreisler arrangement. Locating multiple recordings of the Prelude proved challenging.
