Ever wonder why cds just happened to be 74 minutes long?
The longest known performance lasted 74 minutes. This was a mono recording made during the Bayreuther Festspiele in 1951 and conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. This therefore became the playing time of a CD. A diameter of 12 centimeters was required for this playing time.
my favorite piece of music shaped the destiny of the CD the year I was born. Neat! Well, this may not be perfectly historically accurate, but…
That said, the true story might have been less romantic: Kees Immink, Philips’ chief engineer, who developed the CD, recalls that a commercial tug-of-war between the developing partners led to a settlement in a neutral 12-cm diameter format. The 1951 performance of the Ninth Symphony by Furtwängler was brought forward as the perfect excuse for the change.
Less romantic, but still awesome nonetheless.
Why do I mention this? Because I got a pair of studio monitors (yes, finally) and am currently listening to that very same piece of music on them.