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Glenn Gould's 25th Anniversary.

  • 26-07-2007 11:02am
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭


    Hi,
    Some of you might be aware that this year marks the 25th Anniversary of the death Glenn Gould. It also marks 75 years since his birth, and 50 years since his legendary appearances in the Soviet Union during the Cold-War. It has long been my ambition to mark this event publicly in a manner which Gould would have approved of.

    Many of you will know Gould as the 'concert drop-out', who retired from public concerts at the height of his fame in 1964, convinced that classical music concerts were distasteful . However, the Lecture-Recital event I have planned at the National Concert Hall, Dublin on the 29th of August is not exactly a concert! Hoping to avoid the familiar boredom of a concert performances, or the academic blandness of a lecture- I aim to present music in the same way Gould did after he stopped touring, performing with an educational aim.

    The evening will feature a varied musical programme; J.S. Bach: Keyboard Concerto in D minor BWV 1052, several other Bach pieces as well as music by Orlando Gibbons, William Byrd, Domenico Scarlatti, Claude Debussy and more!

    The Greystones Ensemble will be accompanying myself on Piano, and the evening will also feature vocal music performed by Helena McGuiness (soprano). The music will be interspersed information about Gould’s life and his ideas on music. The whole evening will be presented in such a way as to make the music accessible to anyone, regardless of previous knowledge, and to allow people to enjoy this seldom performed music, without having to dumb it down. I aim to try and bring in a varied and fresh audience, and hope to bring in lots of younger people. So if you're interested please come along, tickets are €15 and available from: http://www.nch.ie

    I was recently contacted by the Glenn Gould Foundation, who manage Gould's estate, they have offered their endorsement and put an extensive item on their website about the event:
    http://www.glenngould.ca

    More details about myself can be found at http://www.karishmeh.com

    Also, for those who are interested I will be featured on RTE Radio 1's Eleventh Hour on the 6th of August, when I will be selecting and discussing Gould recordings and playing some pieces myself. Details at http://www.rte.ie/radio1/theeleventhhour/

    Hope this isn't too long a post! If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss ANYTHING Gould related (positive or negative!) please post it here!

    Hoping to see some of you on the night.


«1

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    I've been planning to go to this for about a month - since I first saw the posters anyhow.

    Absolutely love Glenn Gould, as well as his music (and the way he plays it). Ehm...see you there, I suppose. And best of luck.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Hi there, Just curious as to how you came across Gould ...I know he's the most popular classical musician on the internet - judging by the footage on youtube etc, but he's really not that big a deal in Britain or Ireland..(unfortunately, Britain is and probably will always be under the spell of "period instrument" madness)!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Partly in college, I think - when studying fugue, we listened to Gould's Bach. But I only started buying his CDs recently, about last September or so, I suppose. I'd been playing the A minor Prelude and Fugue from WTC 1, and was looking for different interpretations - Gould's blew me away (not least for taking it at about twice the speed of any other recording I've heard), so I've really been collecting his CDs since.

    Controversial though it is to say, I'm particularly fond of his Brahms.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Oh his Brahms is actually very good - Unfortunately I won't be playing Brahms at the recital (reasons for which will be revealed at the concert itself)! Its interesting you mention his speed for A min P&F - WTC 1, he also adopts very slow tempi in certain preludes & fugues (and indeed in quite a few other works...Mozart for example!). My favourite Gould recording too, is not Bach...however, from the Bach recordings, his Partitas, French & English Suites would be the ones that stand out. Not a fan of the Toccatas at all, or indeed the Chromatic Fantasy etc...it might have something to do with the fact that Gould actually didn't like these works as much as he did the fugues/partitas/suites.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Yeah, I find that he doesn't usually do as well with music he doesn't like - his Mozart always feels like the musical equivalent of wearing shoes on the wrong feet. That said, I do quite like the toccatas (though I've only listened to them a couple of times, and don't have another recording to judge them against).

    What is your favourite Gould recording, then?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    My favourite Gould recording is that absolutely stunning album of works by English Tudor composers - Byrd & Gibbons! (This is "solo" piano stuff, not concertos etc obviously) I absolutely love playing Byrd/Gibbons stuff. I have to say however, his Mozart always puts me in a good mood...his ridiculously over the top satire interpretations especially. The first movement of his K310 a minor sonata for example. As for Bach Toccata recording - try Argerich, sublime playing! NOT Angela Hewitt!!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    My favourite Gould recording is that absolutely stunning album of works by English Tudor composers - Byrd & Gibbons! (This is "solo" piano stuff, not concertos etc obviously) I absolutely love playing Byrd/Gibbons stuff. I have to say however, his Mozart always puts me in a good mood...his ridiculously over the top satire interpretations especially. The first movement of his K310 a minor sonata for example. As for Bach Toccata recording - try Argerich, sublime playing! NOT Angela Hewitt!!!

    Ha! Yes, I think they would suit Argerich alright. Toccatas are just her thing really, aren't they?

    Yes, I have the Byrd and Gibbons album - it is indeed wonderful, but I prefer the WTC and Brahms. Just a personal thing, I suppose. I don't own any of his Mozart, though - only know what I've heard online. I just haven't been particularly inclined to listen to a musician playing music he doesn't like.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Gould in fact did like early Mozart quite a lot. In my case, I was force fed so much Mozart that listening to someone destroy the conventional approach to Mozart's piano music was quite impressive when I was younger! I mean banging out Alberti Bass for a start, just to mock the music is not terribly mature, or artistic but then again, if it irritates the high brow critics then its for a good cause!! Dislike for Mozart's music stems probably from dislike of opera in general...which I can understand completely. At the risk of being banned from the board for having such blasphemous views...I dislike most operatic works (there are exceptions of course) and as a result dislike any work by Mozart that is overly operatic!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Gould in fact did like early Mozart quite a lot. In my case, I was force fed so much Mozart that listening to someone destroy the conventional approach to Mozart's piano music was quite impressive when I was younger! I mean banging out Alberti Bass for a start, just to mock the music is not terribly mature, or artistic but then again, if it irritates the high brow critics then its for a good cause!! Dislike for Mozart's music stems probably from dislike of opera in general...which I can understand completely. At the risk of being banned from the board for having such blasphemous views...I dislike most operatic works (there are exceptions of course) and as a result dislike any work by Mozart that is overly operatic!

    Oh! I suppose you'd know better; I just read that he had called Mozart 'a mediocre composer who died too late rather than too soon'. Or was that just to get up the critics' noses?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    That comment was about Mozart's late works rather than his premature death! He also did say that Mozart's 6 early piano sonatas are the best of the lot, and this is probably because they are derived from the compositional styles of Bach and early Haydn. In music circles nowadays, Mozart-bashing is becoming quite common. At least Gould could back up his opinions or crazy statements with a two page essay saying WHY!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11 OKI


    Hi!

    Thanks so much for this event. Really looking forward to it. While not a musician I have maintained a keen interest in the life and ideas of Mr. Gould - that is ever since seeing the wonderful "Thirty-two films...". Does anybody out there know anything more on Gould's radio pieces, particularly the Solitude Trilogy?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Hi there! What sort of information are you looking for about the Solitude Trilogy? Feel free to PM me with specifics!

    Glad you can make the concert anyway, do come and say hello afterwards!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 451 ✭✭Doshea3


    Hi Pianist2891, I first spotted your recital listed in the "upcoming events" in the back of the May/June NCH programme and I decided then I must go! I came across your website too, and I intended to email you but never got around to it.

    I first came across Gould a few years ago when a friend loaned me his 1957 live recording of the Goldberg Variations and the Three-Part Inventions. I suppose I must have been hooked within a couple of months, and I soon collected all the recordings I could get my hands on. The Bach recordings are perhaps my favourites, particularly the Goldberg Variations (of course!) and the Keyboard Concertos (my favourites are probably the F major, A major and G minor ones). I understand why you're not so enamored with the Toccatas...Glenn himself, I recall, berated them for their lack of contrapuntal interest.

    I find Gould's Mozart just hilarious. What you said about the K310 sonata is completely true—he launches into it so violently, and it turns out so totally un-Classical! That one is great fun. The K330 is like that too—where allegro moderato becomes prestissimo, as only Gould can do. I wish he had recorded more Haydn, though (I know he planned to record all the sonatas at one stage), as his record of the late sonatas is really great—especially the two-movement C major sonata, both of whose movements are masterfully played. Even the hackneyed E flat sonatas sound fresh.

    The WTC recordings are not at all an acceptable set as far as Bach purism would be concerned, but some of them are fascinating. Take for example the prelude from the P & F in E flat minor from book 1. Gould does things with the prelude that you would never imagine looking at the score. Having played this piece myself and knowing it inside out, I was at once outraged and delighted at Gould's totally cavalier treatment of the score as printed, leaving out notes here and there, trilling notes that shouldn't really be trilled, arpeggiating downwards, and so on. Even down to the very first prelude, the famous C major one, Gould plays it in a way we've never imagined it before.

    I love the Byrd/Gibbons album, and though it took me a long time to find it, it was worth the wait in the end. I don't think any other pianist plays 16th century keyboard music so convincingly on the piano (except perhaps Joanna McGregor). Even the dour Gibbons "Lord of Salisbury" pavan and the Sweelinck fantasia are a delight under Gould's fingers. A browse through the Fitzwilliam Virginals Book would make you wonder why Gould didn't record some more of this music.

    The Brahms is also fabulous. I particularly love his playing of the three intermezzi op. 117, especially the second one in B flat minor. Even the four ballades op. 10, which are treated to a somewhat 1981 Goldberg-esque reading at times, are great.

    Anyway, congratulations on your lecture-recital, which is a fabulous idea, taking away, as you said, some of the formality and stuffiness of your usual piano recital. I look forward greatly to it. See you on the night!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    I know the k310 well, but I've never heard Gould play it, sounds like a lark.

    /Investigates


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 451 ✭✭Doshea3


    Even though I love Alfred Brendel (I have my ticket for his recital in the NCH of course), I must say I prefer Gould's recording of the K310 to his. Brendel's is so Mozartian and proper, as ever, but Gould's is so scandalously improper that it's fun. When I sightread part of that sonata, I even took to playing the grace notes like Gould does. Blasphemous, I know. Fun, though. I think I'll go play it now, in fact.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    The only time I heard Brendel was when he decided to announce without any prior notice to us, the audience, that he was abandoning his chosen programme, to play nothing but Haydn sonatas! A revelation. Gould's grace notes are very clever, and more than one purist Mozart pianist has acknowledged that what Gould does with ornamentation isn't that "out there". Its just harder to pull off at an obscenely fast tempo!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    I also have my ticket for Alfie! I love his Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto.

    Couldn't find the K310 performed by Gould today, must try Tower Records tomorrow.

    I think the worst thing I ever did before a performance exam was listen to Gould's version of the Bach invention I was playing. He's just astounding.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    banquo wrote:
    I also have my ticket for Alfie! I love his Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto.

    Couldn't find the K310 performed by Gould today, must try Tower Records tomorrow.

    It's not there, I looked today. (and, no, I didn't buy the last copy ;) )

    Ditto the Brendel, by the way, really looking forward to it. My two treats for August.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    HMV had some copies of Gould's Mozart...as recently as this day last week!
    At least two, if I recall correctly.Most unusual, as they usually have very little! :-)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Heh...this is what I get for never venturing further than Tower when buying CDs (except of course for Amazon).

    Which HMV are/were they in?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    The one I usually avoid. Grafton Street! As for Amazon, I am trying to go cold turkey. They always get me on the "other users who bought...." and "you might like ...." :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    The one I usually avoid. Grafton Street! As for Amazon, I am trying to go cold turkey. They always get me on the "other users who bought...." and "you might like ...." :)

    I've created some very strange combinations on that, just by virtue of my odd taste in music. Like: you've bought Ys by Joanna Newsom. You might like Complete symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich.

    Were you on the radio last night, by the way? I heard someone talking about Glenn Gould, but I didn't have time to listen to much.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Yeah that was me. As for amazon combinations, after I bought some Handel keyboard music, they suggested Buddhist chants by Tibetan Monks?! Talk about odd taste.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Yeah that was me. As for amazon combinations, after I bought some Handel keyboard music, they suggested Buddhist chants by Tibetan Monks?! Talk about odd taste.

    Nice!

    The show sounded good, by the way, from what little I did hear.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 451 ✭✭Doshea3


    Banquo—Alfie! That's a great nickname for Brendel. I'll have to start calling him that from now on. :D Also, I recall a few years back when I decided to play Bach's Sinfonia (Three-Part Invention) No. 5 in E flat for my then piano teacher, who remarked, "You've been listening to too much Glenn Gould!"

    Karishmeh, do you a have an MP3 file of your radio appearance? Unfortunately I wasn't at home and so I missed it, even though I had marked it in my diary. :(


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    Gould's Goldberg Variations are very close to my heart, because I always listened but never atempted playing them [I'm still very young] but when I hear him playing a Bach invention that I also have learned I cant help but writhe in my chair trying to imagine playing it like him. It makes me crazy. Big fan though.

    Funny thing is that none of my friends, even the supposed music students, are really into anything but Bell X1 and the like and none of my contemporaries had heard of him, and I only found out recently that he was a very well known figure! How sad is that!

    Good to see some excitement on this forum too, it's usually shamefully empty.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    banquo wrote:
    Gould's Goldberg Variations are very close to my heart, because I always listened but never atempted playing them [I'm still very young] but when I hear him playing a Bach invention that I also have learned I cant help but writhe in my chair trying to imagine playing it like him. It makes me crazy. Big fan though.

    Funny thing is that none of my friends, even the supposed music students, are really into anything but Bell X1 and the like and none of my contemporaries had heard of him, and I only found out recently that he was a very well known figure! How sad is that!

    Good to see some excitement on this forum too, it's usually shamefully empty.

    I think it's very difficult after getting into Gould not to imitate him in some way or other. For me it's singing, which I really do find makes the music easier - but it's a bit embarassing if I accidentally do it in public! :o

    banquo: have you heard both of Gould's versions of the Goldbergs? Which one do you prefer? Just out of curiosity... Also, there are a couple of decent classical forums online, if you want more activity. A quick Google should usually turn something up, but this is one of the more popular I've found.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    Mr. Hatter: Bits of both. The first edition obviously are the more risque, and i adore the aria from that, how he plays it so slowly and gets the absolute most from every single note, it's just wonderful. Funny you should ask, I was just listening to it this evening!

    On Gould's K310: Just listened to it - It's the best thing I've heard in ages! I know it's a bit of a satire, and in the way that satire can sometimes be it works so well! Particularly in the development section of the first movement. It's fun and it's engaging.

    Edit: Might not have sounded so good on Mozart's original piano!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 451 ✭✭Doshea3


    Banquo—I know exactly how you feel: some of Gould's Invention recordings are insane, such as Sinfonia No. 1 in C, which is played almost prestissimo! As for the Goldberg Variations, I haven't been overinfluenced by Gould's recordings because I've heard so many different recordings of them, but I would say that Gould is still a strong influence as his 1981 recording is probably my favourite of all the recordings I own of that piece.

    Mad Hatter—I sometimes sing a little when I play, but thankfully not all the way through. It's usually at climactic parts of the piece. I'm reminded of Gould's film "The Retreat" with Bruno Monsaigneon when he plays him some of his transcription of Wagner's "Die Meistersinger" Act I Prelude, and his sings very loudly and exaggeratedly the countermotif in the later part of the first section (presumably to highlight that he included it in his transcription, whereas Klindworth's standard transcription leaves it out for the sake of playability). I can't play Klindworth's transcription without thinking of that.

    And Banquo, the very thought of Gould playing his interpretation of the K310 on a fortepiano is hilarious!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Great to see so much activity on this forum! I am posting from the remote parts of England, and have had so many Gould related emails in the last few days that I have to reply to! As for K310, I nearly came to blows with a purist pianist who had some not so nice things to say about Glenn's insanity!

    As for singing and playing, its perfectly natural...I actually find it impossible to play ANY bach without singing it. Never sing when playing Mozart or Chopin or err....Beethoven/Ravel/Rachmaninoff.

    I also think its fascinating that Gould had such a terrible off-pitch singing voice, it adds to the character and uniqueness of the music in my opinion. If he had a crystal clear tenor voice, it would be just irritating! :-)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Great to see so much activity on this forum! I am posting from the remote parts of England, and have had so many Gould related emails in the last few days that I have to reply to! As for K310, I nearly came to blows with a purist pianist who had some not so nice things to say about Glenn's insanity!

    As for singing and playing, its perfectly natural...I actually find it impossible to play ANY bach without singing it. Never sing when playing Mozart or Chopin or err....Beethoven/Ravel/Rachmaninoff.

    I also think its fascinating that Gould had such a terrible off-pitch singing voice, it adds to the character and uniqueness of the music in my opinion. If he had a crystal clear tenor voice, it would be just irritating! :-)

    Well, people seem to be particularly irritated by his voice for some reason, when they'll ignore similar traits in others. And yes, I know Gould's an extreme example.

    The way I look at it, Gould made me hear Bach, and later Brahms, like I'd never, ever heard them before. So to hell with it if he needs to sing along, and to hell with purism, too, if the resultant music is that great.

    If someone could play my music that well, I wouldn't care if they ignored every dynamic and tempo marking in the piece.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 413 ✭✭Marathon Man


    Check this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag3atJSmgTM

    One word: Awesome.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    Andreas Schiff is coming soon, too. Couldn't tell you how soon, though...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 451 ✭✭Doshea3


    The Toccata from Partita No. 6 as played by Gould there truly is awesome, and that's not a word I use often. I agree with one of the comments on the page that that version is better than his 1950s studio recording. I remember being transfixed when I bought the DVD on which you find that performance. Gould played Bach in a most unique way...there's nobody else like him at all.

    EDIT: And looking at that again, it must be from Gould that I got the habit of playing the left hand slightly out of sync with the right. It wasn't until I was criticized by no less than Philip Martin for doing it that I realized what I was actually doing. He also said at the time that he had listened to a recording by a famous pianist and was infuriated to hear him play like that. He never mentioned which pianist it was. Perhaps it was Gould. Then again, I have a sneaking suspicion the recording was of a Schubert sonata, but I could be wrong.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    banquo wrote:
    Andreas Schiff is coming soon, too. Couldn't tell you how soon, though...

    Edit: Gah! Got Schiff and Brendel mixed up! :o


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    Looking forward to this anyway. Haven't been in the NCH in *ages*. The last thing I saw there was -because one of my best friends was in it- Hello Dolly. Howver, had split with girlfriend 3 days before and was much, much too intoxicated to absorb or recall any part of the show.

    Hatter: D'you reckon a bunch of lecturers will be at Brendel? I may not be able to get drunk and make an arse of myself if they are...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    banquo wrote:
    Looking forward to this anyway. Haven't been in the NCH in *ages*. The last thing I saw there was -because one of my best friends was in it- Hello Dolly. Howver, had split with girlfriend 3 days before and was much, much too intoxicated to absorb or recall any part of the show.

    Hatter: D'you reckon a bunch of lecturers will be at Brendel? I may not be able to get drunk and make an arse of myself if they are...

    It's possible Paddy Devine will be there, alas, as he seems to go to everything. But it's a big place, and a sold-out concert, so I wouldn't worry too much about running into him.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    When I was at the initial exam for the Bmus course Paddy was the man in charge and it was like 'Hey, it's that guy who's always at concerts'

    Great to see so much activity in the forum btw.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    banquo wrote:
    When I was at the initial exam for the Bmus course Paddy was the man in charge and it was like 'Hey, it's that guy who's always at concerts'

    Great to see so much activity in the forum btw.

    Ah, you see, lucky for you, you grew up in Dublin. Most of the concert activity in Sligo began after I left.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Pianist2891, I've been meaning to ask, do you know if Gould ever commented on the preludes and fugues by Shostakovich?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    No comments of him on the subject exist, to my knowledge, but he did promote Shostakovich around 1964 i think, for the Stratford Festival...(along with Britten, Foss and Werner Henze). Also, when Gould was quite young, he recorded some lighter piano music of Shostakovich, but by all accounts he wasn't as keen on such music (prokofiev's lighter pieces featured on the same disc)!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Thanks! I think it's a shame that he didn't record them, as he did fugue so well, and they're some of my favourite pieces.

    He actually did a great recording of Prokofiev's Seventh sonata (Part 1; Part 2). He really didn't like that stuff?

    Actually, as soon as I asked you that, it occurred to me to do a Google, and I found this article, I believe from Gould's biography, denouncing most of his music post-the first symphony.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    I have the book in question! As soon as I typed the reply, I realized I had completely forgotten about this article, its quite lengthy but basically Gould is not at all convincing in his views. He really didn't like the stuff, is what he says, but his reasons are altogether convoluted.

    The Glenn Gould Reader is edited by Tim Page, its not a biography, but a collection of Gould's essays and articles on various subjects!

    Personally, I do like some of the preludes and fugues, not all! Richter felt the same way, he didn't care for all the P & Fs so didn't record them all, which irritated Shostakovich a fair bit!

    Gould does say that at times Shostakovich's music has a tendency to "not be able to speak" with any great intensity, because there is no longer anything he wishes to be intense about.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    I have the book in question! As soon as I typed the reply, I realized I had completely forgotten about this article, its quite lengthy but basically Gould is not at all convincing in his views. He really didn't like the stuff, is what he says, but his reasons are altogether convoluted.

    The Glenn Gould Reader is edited by Tim Page, its not a biography, but a collection of Gould's essays and articles on various subjects!

    Personally, I do like some of the preludes and fugues, not all! Richter felt the same way, he didn't care for all the P & Fs so didn't record them all, which irritated Shostakovich a fair bit!

    Gould does say that at times Shostakovich's music has a tendency to "not be able to speak" with any great intensity, because there is no longer anything he wishes to be intense about.

    Yes, and his refusal to record all of the preludes and fugues were my reason for not buying Richter's recording!

    I don't know, I think that Gould's opinions in general are fairly good evidence that music taste is always going to be subjective, no matter how completely some composers have worked their way into the canon.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Subjective is right!

    So, blasphemous as it may sound, Schiff is just not my cup of tea! Ironically, I love Gould's Prokofiev & Scriabin!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Subjective is right!

    So, blasphemous as it may sound, Schiff is just not my cup of tea! Ironically, I love Gould's Prokofiev & Scriabin!

    That's quite alright, I feel the same about Barenboim!

    I didn't know that Gould played Skrjabin* - is it any good? What pieces did he play? Are there any recordings?

    I'm learning so much about Gould in this thread that I'm really excited about the lecture-recital now!







    Yes, I know, most pretentious spelling possible. But I like it!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,487 ✭✭✭banquo


    I'm quite looking forward to this I must admit. How detailed will the lecture be? I've been to enough similiar events to expect 45 mins of 'Beethoven's favorite fruit was the banana and his star sign was x ... and now the Allegro from the 5th'.

    I expect genuine musical discussion! :D I'll trade you for a 30 minute waffle of unity of themes in the Waldstein, ono.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 132 ✭✭Pianist2891


    Well, the waffle was all aired on the radio show, the lecture-recital will be a little more substantial. While the musical examples will be confined to Tudor, Baroque and Classical Music, the lecture element won't!!

    I won't be catering to the lyric fm type listeners (though nothing wrong with lyric fm!!!), but I'll waffle on about everything under the sun that I can think of. Thankfully I talk fast....:cool: VERY fast!!

    While NCH may not hear of it, I'm probably going to organize a musical evening later in the year at a more informal, smaller venue, where I'll discuss OTHER works that Gould had an opinion about, and also play some of this music....(Scriabin, Schoenberg, Webern, Barber, Strauss).

    Gould played Scriabin, yes...even the frighteningly difficult 5th Sonata, and Désir(in fact there's footage of him playing this in the film "The Alchemist!). So much for critics/idiots who said he didnt tackle such music because he was technically not up to the challenge!!

    I have to say, I am terrified and excited at the prospect of you all being there. You do realize, I am no Alfred Brendel (thankfully!!). Or Angela Hewitt!!! Or...err. Glenn Gould. I am also quite sure some psychotic old women are going to throw things at me, because they will turn up expecting Glenn Gould and instead will find..me! Bah!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    I have to say, I am terrified and excited at the prospect of you all being there. You do realize, I am no Alfred Brendel (thankfully!!). Or Angela Hewitt!!! Or...err. Glenn Gould. I am also quite sure some psychotic old women are going to throw things at me, because they will turn up expecting Glenn Gould and instead will find..me! Bah!

    Nah, we're not so bad. Just think of us as moral support! And should any crotchety old woman throw something at you, I assure you I will...er...have very strong words with them about respecting their superiors :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,731 ✭✭✭DadaKopf


    Where can I get all his awesome contrapunction stuff? Anyone?


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