Glenn Gould's 25th Anniversary.

Pianist2891

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.

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.

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)!!

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.

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.

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?

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!!!

The Mad Hatter

Pianist2891 wrote:

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.

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!

The Mad Hatter

Pianist2891 wrote:

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?

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!

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?

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!!

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!

banquo

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

/Investigates

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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! :-)

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?

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 ...."

The Mad Hatter

Pianist2891 wrote:

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.

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.

The Mad Hatter

Pianist2891 wrote:

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.

Doshea3

Banquo—Alfie! That's a great nickname for Brendel. I'll have to start calling him that from now on. 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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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! :-)