Glenn Gould Plays Chopin

[steveie986]

I just listened to some sample tracks of Glenn Gould Edition: Chopin / Mendelssohn / Scriabin / Prokofiev on Amazon.com. On Disc 1, Gould plays Chopin's Piano Sonata no. 3. Considering his legendary "unease" with Chopin, I was salivating with curiosity. In particular, the first minute of the 4th movement of the sonata brought a wide, wide grin to my face. He basically employs his notorious semi-staccato and the effect is stunning to say the least (good or bad I don't know, but... stunning). Does anyone else have this CD? What are your reactions? Are there any other notable recordings of Gould playing Romantic music you would recommend?

[palika dunno]

I first thought u were kidding when you wrote about glenn gould playing chopin's 3rd sonata...but then I saw that he really recorded it 
I listened to samples...er  nice... his bach interpretations are great....but romantic stuff...

[da jake]

I own the set.

Highlights: Scriabin 3 - This is great! He plays the opening with a slow, relentless pace that is a unique but totally effective way to interpret Scriabin 'drammatico'.
The slow 3rd movement is wonderful. His style in the last is very similar to the first, and works really well. I must admit that I prefer Gould's sober approach to Sofronitsky's wild emotional performance of this piece. For me Sofronitsky's was thrilling at first, but gets tired after a while. The Gould grew on me and remains my favorite.

The Prokofiev 7: I never liked the first 2 movements of this sonata and the obvious point of interest is the furious last movement. Gould's recordings of this is INCREDIBLY virtuosic, and remains my favorite. Versions I've heard include those by Ashkenazy, Richter (multiple), Argerich (multiple), Raekallio, Pletnev, Gavrilov, and Sokolov. Gould plays it faster than all the other great virtuosos except Raekallio (who plays it fast for the sake of it), and Ashkenazy (back in the halcyon days of his career). His wonderfully quirky playing makes his superior to all of them.

Chopin 3. The first movement is some of the most un-Chopin-like playing I've heard. It's a really strange interpretation and I don't much like it, but it's still interesting. Gould plays the second movement fast, but strangely messes up the synch between the left and right hand on purpose (I think). Like the Scriabin 3, the third movement of this sonata is BEAUTIFUL. The last movement of this sonata is wikid - he articulates the theme like nobody else.

The Scriabin 5 is OK, but whereas the slow tempo worked great in the 3rd sonata it is just too slow here. The recordings of the so-called virtuosi (i.e., Richter) are bettah here. The miniatures of Scriabin and Prokofiev are good.

The Mendelssohn is not good.

Anyway, for the Prok 3, 3rd mvt, great Scriabin 3, and overall fascinating performances, this set is well worth it.

[da jake]

Here are some samples.

Prokofiev 7, 3rd movement:

https://s13.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=306XNN3XKOIJT3DERLO57NP9RP

Chopin 3rd Sonata 4th movement:

https://s13.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0KXDZLPQ895081Q565XJ339SSZ

[burstroman]

Glenn Gould plays a fine precipitous 3rd movem't of the Prok. #7, but it is the first movement of the same sonata which won me!

[steveie986]

Thanks for the responses, guys and gals. Thanks jake for posting the complete 4th movement of the Chopin.

I've heard Gould's recording of the Prokofiev sonata no. 7 3rd movement. Not bad, but compared to Maurizio Pollini's (incredible) and Frederic Chiu's (very good) recordings, Gould comes up short.

Also, I think the first movement is still the highlight of the piece and the meat of the emotional material. It's similar to piano sonata no. 8, where the first movement is incredibly deep and emotionally introspective, and the third movement is downright exciting and tuneful.

Now the 4th movement of Chopin's sonata no. 3 was an absolute revelation. I've never heard Chopin played that way (I'm used to Dinu Lipatti's classic recording) and it was a complete revelation. It was revelatory in the same way his Bach was revelatory. I can't tell if Gould was trying to satirize Chopin by playing it in that precisely measured Baroque style but it was