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Has live performance become background to the recording process? First published in 1987 and now considered a classic, The Recording Angel charts the ways in which the phonograph and its descendents have transformed our culture. Today on Soundcheck, author Evan Eisenberg comes by to talk about his rhapsodic book, its legacy, and the new digital landscape. Also, pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known for his attention to lesser-known composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and is cited as one of the most "intrepid explorers of the pianistic universe." He joins us to talk about his ever-expanding musical vocabulary and his new recording of Albeniz's sultry "Iberia."