My Joust With Perspective By Way of 'Tactical Listening'...

The legendary pianist Artur Rubinstein recorded the Chopin Mazurkas repeatedly during his career, capping off this  unparalleled  relationship with these masterpieces by way of a simple remark made during his twilight period  " I think that I can play them better now."
Glenn Gould burst upon the scene in his twenties with his magnificent Goldberg Variations, and  shortly before his tragically premature death  recorded them once again.
Vladimir Horowitz first recorded the Rachmaninoff  third concerto in 1930. His final recording of this massive work occurred in 1978.
The Bach Partitas, as recorded by Glenn Gould, had for years been my most compelling view of these pieces; that is, until Angela Hewitt came along years later with her recording of these jewels by the giant of the Baroque Era.
The enormous number of recordings of the Mazurkas as performed  by Rubinstein made it impossible for me to array them in any linear modality, as regards listening to them in  encapsulated form; however, I placed the Gould recordings of the Goldberg variations back-to-back on CD. I also placed the first and last recordings  that Horowitz had made of the Rachmaninoff Third back-to-back on another CD.
With Gould and Hewitt, I recorded each piece in all  six of the Bach Partitas  so that, for instance, the Gigue in Partita I by Gould would be followed by Hewitt's performance of the same  Gigue.  
Which comes to my Tatum Project. Initially, I chose around twenty or thirty of  tunes recorded by the Jazz giant Art Tatum  in order to get underway with the Project.  A few years later,  I decided to enlarge the Project by taking  the 70 pieces recorded(in three days!) by Tatum in 1953, organized by the jazz impresario Norman Granz, almost as if he knew that Tatum would be dead within three years of these recordings; almost as if Granz had demanded  that the legacy of Tatum be created - at any rate, taking these 70 tunes, I created a lexicon of perspective, primarily for my own pleasure AND ultimate enlightenment by way of linear placement.. I chose one of these 70 tunes, then followed by choosing a recording made by one of the concert giants of the past century which contained the same kinds of finger techniques that were used in the Tatum tune.
And so a giant project followed that afforded me a refurbished, certainly unprecedented view of piano performance at the highest level in a different format. For instance, Tatum might be followed by Horowitz; then the next  Tatum might be followed by a Rachmaninoff; or a Gilels; or an Arrau; or a Lhevinne; etc., etc., until all of Tatum's tunes would, in single form, be followed by the great classical artists of the past century or so, with a grand total of 140 separate recordings being heard in contiguous form.
And YES(in answer to your question!) it was worth spending months on the Tatum Project.
For me, I have a far greater Perspective enhancing my reactions, both intellectually and spiritually, such as in the Gould, Horowitz, and Gould/Hewitt incarnations; and in the dazzling world of finger techniques, such as in the Tatum Project.
The term 'perspective' has  a deeper significance for me, through this procedure.

The Tatum Project - A Perspective of This Giant...

I thought that I had discussed with the reader in a previous blog my Tatum Project; however, it appears that I had not done so. May I present this endeavor to you now....
Perhaps the most compelling reality about the name Art Tatum is that of all the great pop musicians this past century has produced, his name is discussed, analyzed and held in greater regard and awe than, perhaps, any other in his field. From university to living room; from recording studio to diner or bar - every day that has passed since his brief appearance on this earth, the name Art Tatum is dealt with in one form or another, in locations scattered throughout the world. I cannot remember any of the hallowed educational institutions I had attended where the name Tatum was not discussed. And please be reminded that the likes of a Horowitz or a Rachmaninoff held him in the the highest regard.
Some years back, I decided to deal with his genius at a rather high level of comparative analysis.
And so, to make this a bit more brief - over a period of about six months, I produced about five or six CD's, with the following material therein:
Very carefully, and with much thought, I chose a specific tune from the Tatum recordings(I believe that I possess almost everything he recorded, which includes the wire recordings of 1941 from the Newman Archive), followed by a piece from the vast library of classical recordings by the great concert pianists of our time and past periods.
In other words, these discs would contain a tune arranged by Tatum, which would then be followed by a composition performed by, say, Artur Rubinstein, of about the same length; specifically, about three minutes or thereabout.
To encapsulate: The CD's would contain such a list as the following - Tatum, Kissin; Tatum, Gilels; Tatum, Horowitz; Tatum, Rachmaninoff; Tatum,Arrau etc.
The reason for this rather heavily researched project was simply to put forth a question; namely, was this comparatively uneducated, unsophisticated little man the equal, in raw pianistic terms, the equal of any of the legendary pianists that have been recorded during this past century?
Wonder if Horowitz ever pondered this question - we know that Vladimir Horowitz befriended Art Tatum and was unhesitatingly in awe of him, speaking countless times in open admiration of the prowess of the pop legend.
I can tell you that one of the leading pianists of our day requested a copy of the Project, which I sent him.