anything about Gould

[Diabolos]

Hi all.

I was wondering what you guys think of Glenn Goulds playing, about episodes and habits of this controverse pianist.

Here's mine:

At a concerto when Gould was supposed to perform the first Brahms piano concerto, the conductor (Bernstein!!) appeared on the stage and excused for that to come; he said that the upcoming interpretation wasn't at all close to the way he felt about the concerto.

Well, and then Gould came out and played the first movement in half the tempo anyone else would play it, prolonging the concerto to more than an hour!

I guess that story is pretty self-expanatory, since Gould was known for such experiments.
What attracts (or distracts) you about this Canadian pianist and his art of playing the piano?

Regards - and hohoho

[MzrtMusic]

I've generally found, that like most other pianists, Glenn Gould had some recordings that were genius, and he tried some things that didn't work so well. Have you ever heard him play the Brahms "Intermezzo Op. 118"? That's an example of his Genius. Some of the stuff in Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" recording is simply wonderful. So, while Gould may seem to take things to the extremes, like with the Brahms Concerto, I don't think that he's so much different than Vladimir Ashkenazy, or Polini, or any other name you want to insert. I have some Mozart that Gould played, and I think that it's just wonderful!!! I guess that a lot of it is just personal opinion. Example: There are several people on this forum who really like Barenboim's interpritations, but from what I've heard of him, I wasn't that impressed. Now, who is right, and who is wrong? It just comes down to a matter of personal taste...

This has gone on for a while, and I'm not really sure that I answered your question, but, for what it's worth, there's my opinion!!!!

Happy Holidays

Love,

Sarah

[Diabolos]

Well, you've got a point in that.

But what I found interesting's how much his playing changed with the time. I heard a few recordings of the e-minor from WK II; they sounded so different.
Guess that's what makes Gould extraordinary - opening up to very different interpretations.

[martin_s]

If you're interested in Mr. Gould and in his opinions on various musical matters, you ought to get yourself a copy of the book "the Glenn Gould reader". - A fabulous collection of short essays and interwievs with/by GG.
There are some really funny bits like "Glenn Gould interwievs himself about Beethoven", "Let's ban applause", "GG in conversation with Artur Rubinstein" and many others...

[ramseytheii]

A friend of mine met Gould once after a concert, when he was still concertizing, and complemented him on a piece, I think it was Beethoven op.109.  According to my friend, Gould said, "I hardly know it, I've only played it in concert 30 times."

Walter Ramsey

[kriskicksass]

Glenn Gould is originality personified. Whether that's good or bad is subjective. I, personally, like his recordingsl; however, I think that he's on a list of performers who music students shouldn't be allowed to hear until they're experienced enough to know that what they're listening to is out of the ordinary, lest they try to imitate it.

[m]

At a concerto when Gould was supposed to perform the first Brahms piano concerto, the conductor (Bernstein!!) appeared on the stage and excused for that to come; he said that the upcoming interpretation wasn't at all close to the way he felt about the concerto.

Well, and then Gould came out and played the first movement in half the tempo anyone else would play it, prolonging the concerto to more than an hour!

Well, this story is mostly a legend--the kind of BS, most likely for publicity purposes (BTW, both Gould and Bernstein were big masters of such tricks).
I have the recording from that very concert, with an introductory Bernstein's speach. The tempi are... well... may be a little bit broader than usual, but well within the context of the music and definitely nothing like half tempo, or "more than an hour".
I actually like that recording very much and don't find anything eccentric about it.

[steveie986]

Well, and then Gould came out and played the first movement in half the tempo anyone else would play it, prolonging the concerto to more than an hour!

Not quite true, Gould's interpretation of the Brahms 1 is approximately the same length as the more orthodox recordings. He simply played the 1st movement slower and the second movement faster, creating what he called "rhythmic continuity," which was part of a his larger scheme of "tempi." The radio interview with Tim Page discusses this in more detail (it's on the third disc of the "State of Wonder" set).

Glenn Gould's Bach was revelatory for me and really marked a huge shift in my musical tastes away from Romantic repertoire and toward contrapuntal polyphonic music. I've watched pretty much all the movies/documentaries ever made about him and I'm in the process of reading the half dozen or so biographies about him in the university library. If you have access fo Naxos classical music online, I highly recommend the three radio documentaries he made, including "The Idea of North."

Invariably he has many detractors and I can sympathize with them. Gould was a genius, and perhaps he was a genius only at deception, but he has deceived me so well as to enlighten me regarding the music of Bach. Several of his Romantic recordings are also quite interesting - his only Chopin recording (3rd sonata) was stunning, and some of his Beethoven and Brahms are also exquisite. Just stay away from his later Mozart!!! It'll bust your eardrums!!!