***Gould Vs. Hewitt***

[hunkyhong]

who's interpretation of Bach do you like better and why?

[iumonito]

Hewitt.  I think hers is more developed spiritually.  Less about herself, more about the music.

Call me crazy, but as passionate as I think J.S. was, Bach does not seem neurotic to me, and Gould does.  He gets in the way of my enjoyment of the music.

I like Gould's Brahms' though, at least much better than his Bach.

[arensky]

Edwin Fischer 


Between Gould and Hewitt I prefer Gould; Hewitt's interpretations seem mannered to me, very gilded and overdecorated. This was a stylistic feature of Baroque architecture and visual art so she is not wrong but when I listen to Gould I'm able to focus more on the music, not his playing of it. But they are both magnificent Bach players, no question about it.

[thierry13]

Hewitt doesn't even come close to be in competition with Gould. I listened to her playing and I saw her live, and it was atrocious. Truly horrific moments. She played one of the p&fs as if it was rach 3 cadenza's and other pieces as if they were chopin nocturnes. Nothing was appropriate, nothing was tought out, nothing was beautiful, as Bach should be. There's no way she can come close to the genius of Gould. The worse is that she is so specialized in Bach that when she tries to play anything else it sounds amateurish, really not the mature playing you would hear of a professional pianist of that age and experience.

[welltemperedpianist]

haha theirry is so kind with his criticism like always.
but i must agree, Angela Hewitt does not play Bach very well, though that's what she's known for unfortunately. there's too much "pianism" in her playing Bach. no effort at phrasing, articulation, voicing, and so on.

[michel dvorsky]

Gould makes Hewitt sound like a conservatory student.

[fnork]

Her non-bach recordings are underrated imo, the complete Ravel piano music has great moments (and some not so great perhaps..).

But I was listening to some of her Bach recordings, and found it hard to listen through a complete CD..Some of it is excellent, some much less interresting imo. Lately I've listened much more to Rosalyn Turecks Bach performances.

And for other instrumentalists playing Bach, I think Henryk Sheryngs (spelling?) complete recordings of the violin works is terrific.

[thierry13]

Gould makes Hewitt sound like a conservatory student.

You are still too kind to her.

[a-sharp]

She has not yet recorded a version of Bach like that which she plays in concert. I was impressed by her interpretive boldness and freedom in concert with her WTC bkII (didn't see book I). I loved how she played.

At the same time - I cannot compare her to Gould - sort of like apples/oranges for me.

But I loved Hewitt's Bach, what I saw of it live.

[rachmaninova]

A new name here: Rosalyn Tureck   

[bachapprentice]

GOULD the greatest.

[lostinidlewonder]

apples oranges

[communist]

Gould

[Petter]

A new name here: Rosalyn Tureck   

<- <3 Rosalyn Tureck

[minor9th]

I think Gould is a far more intelligent musician, but sometimes he overdoes staccato for my taste. If I could only listen to one of these two, I guess I'd take Gould. Overall, I prefer romanticized Russian interpretations! Interestingly, I have recently bought tickets to Hewitt's Bach Goldberg Variations concert--I'll report back afterward.

[j.s. bach the 534th]

Gould, no question about it

[pianomx]

I support also the Rosalyn Tureck cheers! I don't know why everybody seems to ignore those comments.

On a different focus Gould is both genius and highly virtuoso at the same time. Some times not even human, I would have to say. Nevertheless amazing recordings, probably among the best recordings of the XXth century

[0range]

A new name here: Rosalyn Tureck   

QFT.

[birba]

<- <3 Rosalyn Tureck

QFT.

Is there some sort of hidden joke in these cryptics?  PLEASE explain!  Maybe I've been out of the US for too long.  What do these quotes mean?
At any rate, Rosalyn Turek was one of the greatest musical innovators of all time.  Someone once snidely remarked that she was one lucky lady when she dedicated herself to Bach, because no one had even THOUGHT of making a career out of it at that time.  Because she could rip through the Rach third like nobody's business.  But she chose to take Bach out of the musicologists' domain and make it into living music in a concert hall.  A truly great musician.
I think Gould was a freak of nature in a way.  Probably the most gifted musician and pianist of the last century.  His mind was on full-blast at all times and was probably the reason why he died so young.

[pianomx]

I think Gould was a freak of nature in a way.  Probably the most gifted musician and pianist of the last century.  His mind was on full-blast at all times and was probably the reason why he died so young.

That and the drugs... 

[lisztisforkids]

apples oranges

 I agree. Gould and Hewitt really cant be compared together. Then again, who can we compare Gould to?

[birba]

apples oranges

More like apples raisins

[thalberg]

Gould was always after clarity.  Some people called his playing an x-ray of the music.  You could hear everything on all levels of structure.  He was obsessed with sound quality, which is why his recordings sound so much better than so many other pianists who did not worry over every detail of a recording session and focused more on their playing, leaving some things up to the recording engineers.

Hewitt just doesn't have Gould's sound quality, penetrating understanding of structure, or ingenius vitality.  But I do like her a lot.  She has thought through the music very thoroughly and has a lot of ideas that are original and yet very appropriate.  Yet she is a Fazioli artist, and those pianos just don't sound right to me.

[Petter]

Is there some sort of hidden joke in these cryptics?  PLEASE explain! 

Internet lingo.
<3 = love (heart)
 QFT = quoted for truth

Abbreviations common in online games. Stay away from those. 

[birba]

Wow.  Would NEVER have guessed it.

[jlh]

Gould makes Hewitt sound like a conservatory student.

Imagine what Hewitt could do if she had Gould's piano!!

It's well known that his piano was specifically doctored up for the playing of Bach's music.  It has an extremely light action and is impossible to play a decent legato line.

[thierry13]

Imagine what Hewitt could do if she had Gould's piano!!

It's well known that his piano was specifically doctored up for the playing of Bach's music.  It has an extremely light action and is impossible to play a decent legato line.

Gould didn't allways play on his piano, his piano actually got broken once and he had to take another one and he sounded exactly the same ... Hewitt played all the greatest pianos and she allways played the same also ...

[Nightscape]

I agree that Hewitt's non-Bach recordings should be looked at.  I loved her recording of the Chopin nocturnes.

I really like the way she plays Bach.  I also really like Gould too, but for different reasons.  I am not an extremist and so if one plays better than the other than it can't be by much.  I am aware of the 'cult of Gould' - generally the only claim for his greatness is expressed by these individuals as:

GOULD IS GOD

or something along those lines.  Youtube video comments are great way to see this strange piano phenomenon in action.

I'm just glad that both pianists have recorded Bach and we are able to share in the genius of his music with them.

[0range]

Stay away from those. 

Pff... nub. 

It's not as bad as SDC speek.

[birba]

Alright you two.  Translate!

[michel dvorsky]

Gould was always after clarity.  Some people called his playing an x-ray of the music.  You could hear everything on all levels of structure.  He was obsessed with sound quality, which is why his recordings sound so much better than so many other pianists who did not worry over every detail of a recording session and focused more on their playing, leaving some things up to the recording engineers.

Hewitt just doesn't have Gould's sound quality, penetrating understanding of structure, or ingenius vitality.  But I do like her a lot.  She has thought through the music very thoroughly and has a lot of ideas that are original and yet very appropriate.  Yet she is a Fazioli artist, and those pianos just don't sound right to me.

I like very much what you've said about Gould.  I remeber reading the 'x-ray' comment in the liner notes to his recording of the French Suites.  My favorite performance of that album is the D minor French suite.  The level of control is just mystifying. Gould makes the music sound so deep and fascinating. As well as one of the greatest players of contrapuntal music, he could also handle the big virtuoso works (Prok 7, La Valse, Beethoven-Liszt) and late romantic tonal studies (Brahms Intermezzi).  Easily one of the greatest pianists ever.

[ahinton]

I'm not about to come down on either side that's offered here but, since we're discussing Bach keyboard works played upon the (relatively) modern piano, then one name stands out above all others for me, and it's neither of those. It's the recently deceased Yonty Solomon. To have heard him perform the Goldberg Variations was an experience beyond compare; he did this on more occasions than most pianists and I had the privilege to attend a few such...

Best,

Alistair

[Nightscape]

I'm not about to come down on either side that's offered here but, since we're discussing Bach keyboard works played upon the (relatively) modern piano, then one name stands out above all others for me, and it's neither of those. It's the recently deceased Yonty Solomon. To have heard him perform the Goldberg Variations was an experience beyond compare; he did this on more occasions than most pianists and I had the privilege to attend a few such...

Best,

Alistair

I would like to have heard that.  I only have his recording of 'le jardin perfume' and the playing is fantastic.  He was a very sensitive pianist (this is probably an understatement).  I bet that the 25th variation was magic!

[hunkyhong]

You guys have to hear this pianist's interpretation of Bach. He is a GENIUS:
Piotr andersjewski. He's polish and his bach is second to only Glenn gould. He is very intellectual in his playing and you can hear all the nuances in the lines. LIsten to it! i promise you won't regret his Cd's

[arensky]

Imagine what Hewitt could do if she had Gould's piano!!

It's well known that his piano was specifically doctored up for the playing of Bach's music.  It has an extremely light action and is impossible to play a decent legato line.

I recall reading in Otto Friedrich's biography of Gould that Hewitt played a recital or series of recitals on Gould's Steinway in the late 80's when a Gould memorial or museum was established in Toronto. That's all I know, though.

[a-sharp]

@minor9th

I think Gould is a far more intelligent musician, but sometimes he overdoes staccato for my taste.

I agree...

slightly OT, but I prefer Argerich's recording of the C minor Partita to Gould's

[m]

Imagine what Hewitt could do if she had Gould's piano!!

Yeah, on top of that tenth of his imagination, and hundredth of his genius... 

Best, M

[birba]

Yeah, on top of that tenth of his imagination, and hundredth of his genius... 

Best, M

YES!

[quirky]

If you want to hear something that is stylisticly correct as regards the Baroque era, Hewitt is first choice.

But for interpretative ability and personality of a performer, Gould is a winner.

Personally, I think that Gould is the greater as he is not afraid to ignore conventions and make the music his own. Hewitt is too conventional and therefore, boring.

[edwardweiss]

 I think some posters here are being less than fair to Angela Hewitt. How can anyone be compared to a 'one-off' like Gould? Pointless. To widen the debate it might be profitable to consider the excellent Bach playing of Maria Tipo, whose mother and first teacher was a Busoni pupil. And my personal favourite performances are Zoltan Kocsis in The Art of Fugue and Alexis Weissenberg in The Goldberg Variations.