Sounds from April, 1860

The New York Times today has an article about the reconstruction of an April 1860 "recording" - thus proving that life imitates art, or if not art, then cheap plot(ting) devices.

You can hear the reconstruction by fiddling the link in the middle of this post.

p.s. How is this different from historical "restorations" in which a building is constructed based on no more than pieces of foundation?