Oh yeah. Improv all over the score!
Yeah! The funny thing is, nobody believes me, but I think you learn about the score by doing this.
Mics - thanks! A friend here has the Rodes as well, but I’ve only heard them on organ earlier.
If you do this again some time, a suggestion would be to try using just his Neumanns (which are very good) in omni mode and place them at center lid at the very edge of the stage here with the piano in the same position, and see how you like that. Maybe even at first row, in which case I’d also try a low position for them so they end up about in height with the body of the instrument (you can’t keep mics that low on stage since you get too much bass reflexes, but from first row I think it works, and I love the extra boost from lid and soundboard you get at that height). That would be my starting position for recording, and I’d only add a second pair if the hall response requires it (if you can’t find a distance from the piano which gives both a good “glow” around the notes from the wall/floor/ceiling reflexes and good detail and clarity at the same time).
Thanks for that advice, as I’ve now made two separate CDs of paraphrases and I am considering whether I should make a third. (I like rarities, but combining good and rare can be tough.) My inclination is to always have a second pair, simply because it gives options post-editing in terms of mixing and thus an extra level of control over the sound. Every hall is different of course - I forgot to address the “good hall” aspect earlier, but the one in this recording is in sometime use as a symphony orchestra venue and is considered good acoustically.
I think so too, the acoustics in this recording sounds really good. Here in the city of icicles the only place I’m aware of which would provide this kind of piano and this kind of acoustics is the main hall of the concert house, which costs around £1500/hour to rent.
There’s been background noise sanitation work done on this recording, ie ambient noise removal, pedal mechanism noise removal (yes the mics do pick this up). But I’m stunned by that level of hire cost. I got this hall for a bit less than the hourly price you quote, and my booking was a two day one (to do nine tracks in total). The benefits of doing it in a provincial city I guess and not somewhere like London.
Jyard studio was $75 an hour
$30 mastering fee aftah.
Pretty reasonable imo, especially if they’ve done the video production bit too (which isn’t difficult, but commercial companies would charge a fair bit).
AHAHAHAHAH
REZPEC diz inzanely random tranny dizcovahry n YO ZPIRITED INTERP dereof 
AHAHAHAHAHAH da endin a bit REZPECABLE, diz haz da THALburglah-MOZEZ nevah-endin ARP ORGY vibe tiz tru 
i think diz tranz cud be very cloze to how da PIMP firzt impro-ed on deze zongz b4 organizin hiz thoughtz into da final zheeyat dat we noe n love
AHAHAHAHAH n tru randomly now i recognize yo azz from diz channel
REZPEC da KAN FEZTIN n da THAL MOZEZ clazzix. randomly da zepp uzed to pozt on da 88ztreet undah da legendary nick:
chromaticklah
but wuz harzhly banned fo zum reazon
Hey, that’s TM’s field of expertise 
I think dere are bitz of diz tranny which are worryingly close to da pimp’s version. Tru cg ztory now follows: wuz playin diz in class to sum otha mofos and about tha 8 to 9 min mark I gut confuzed and went into da pimp norma but obviously now in Bb minor and not B minor so I’m now transposing da pimp down a zemitone. Kept going for a bit too 
My old kan feztin embarrazzez my sorry azz dese days. I took the worse of the two down though it deffo had sum cg moments.
I zuzpected yo were da ticklah
Hahaha
Daim.