|
The Mozart is of course unorthodox, and the weakest of Gould's playing in this set, but not at all unenjoyable, as the be-laborers of the sacrosanct would have you believe. *yawn*, the horror).
Giving this compilation a one star rating for failing to be redundant is daftness incarnate, especially considering that no one would buy a Glenn Gould record without being knowledgable about classical music in general, as well as Gould's neurosis, biases, and, most importantly, his expertise in interpreting Bach. If you only eat steak, this would be chicken; if you want to rock out with your Bach out, cease and desist with the pretentious whining and find practically any other Gould recording, which will undoubtedly have plenty of beefy Bachian goodness.
But this record shouldn't be trashed because of the omissions, or the previous reviewers having had guns put to their heads, coerced to purchase a Bach-less Gould recording (Oh. In knowing that (and being intelligent enough to read the track listing), one ought to conclude that this record is a unique opportunity to sample many other composers, composers as varied as his methods of differentiating both between them and in the midst of their particular works.
In fact, if someone were to complain about something not being on these recordings, I think Gould's Beethoven was sorely neglected, but personally I'd love to have had more Scriabin (the two wonderful but short pieces leave me begging for more). There is ample contrast, even if only considering Strauss's Five Piano Pieces, and the Berg and Prokofiev piano sonatas (the latter of which is worth the price of the CD alone, given Gould's excellent exploitation of it's innately rhythmic nature, and his pacing and clarity), but especially so given the renaissance and classical music of the first disc, which is as good of an introduction to Gibbons and Byrd as I can think of.
All in all, this is a great collection of Gould; regardless (and definitely not in spite) of material, the playing is superb and reveals the trademark juggling of counterpoint and his ability to accentuate the nuances of voice entrances.
He does not try to reproduce the effect of the harpsichord as Horowitz memorably does, and in that respect he more resembles Lipatti and Michelangeli, although I doubt if you would mistake him for either. Gould's highly legible signature has one n, not two, in his first name. Gould's performance is simply awesome, and I hear a certain wondrous tone-quality that I otherwise associate only with Michelangeli. The Strauss pieces are charmers - what did I expect. What I found particularly fascinating was the first 11 tracks on the first disc, a selection of pieces by Byrd and Gibbons, two composers especially dear to my own heart. The Prokofiev sonata is the piece that Argerich stunned me with when I first heard her 40 and more years ago. I am no stickler for repeats, but this leaves the first movement as half the length of the second, which is not a reflection of its significance. The early 18th century is represented by three Scarlatti sonatas, a brief but memorable interest of Gould's.
To support the stereotype of Gould the liner-note quotes some pompous huffiness and puffiness from Brendel, no less, and while I admire Brendel greatly I couldn't help thinking when I read that their dates of birth were little more than a year and a half apart that one main difference between them was that Brendel was born aged 45. I am greatly in favour of the slow tempo he takes in the finale this time, and while I don't yet think he quite equals Serkin in giving a sense of wintry unease, this is a different way of doing the same thing and I could yet change my opinion. Time will tell whether it's really Bizet or only Gould who is impressing me, but right now I'm impressed. Gould omits the repeat (as in all the Scarlatti sonatas), and this is a pity. I would guess that the Mozart fantasia and fugue here will be the performance that most divides opinion.
Everything from Gould is an event, of one kind or another. There is no Bach at all, and for that relief much thanks. Most of my records of Arthur Rubinstein call him Artur and most of my records of Pau Casals call him Pablo. By 1850 Schumann was in the grip of mental illness, Chopin and Mendelssohn were dead, I react unfavourably to Liszt, and apart from Brahms I would have a job naming many solo piano masterpieces in the ensuing 25 years. I have another performance of it by Gould in the series of Haydn sonatas that he did not live to complete, but this one is enormously better. Winters draws attention with great sensitivity to a strong `English accent' in Gould's renderings, although I hasten to add that this does not remind me in any way of the strange pseudo-English accent in which Gould spoke.
In the first movement Gould's playing, just as playing, is quite wonderful, but for me it's too fast - brisk risking being brusque. The rest of the first disc consists of Haydn's E flat sonata # 49, for me the greatest of Haydn's piano sonatas, and for the first time I'm hearing a performance that is a serious rival to my iconic account by Serkin at his 75th birthday concert in the Carnegie Hall. It is stern and forceful, and there is far more of my idea of Mozart in it than in a lot of the bijou tinkling I often hear. I suspect Gould has a point. Ditto the Scriabin and Prokofiev. Berg is the friendly and approachable face of atonalism, and this performance probably could not be bettered. The slow movement is simply wonderful, and Gould's lightness of touch conveys the power of the expression without a certain solemnity as from Serkin. I even have a record of Serkin that designates him Rudolph.
I don't have her performance on record, but if it was better than this it must have been even better than I remember. There is a popular representation of him as wilful and perverse, and while I can think of certain performances by him that could be described in that way, in general I find far less eccentricity in his playing than I do in Richter's, and absolutely none on these two discs. Gould has the idiom of Scriabin to perfection, like Horowitz and Ogdon and far more than Ashkenazy in the other Scriabin solos I own. These are composers I have a special liking for.
Winters quotes with some scepticism Gould's view that the Bizet is one of the few masterpieces for solo piano in the third quarter of the 19th century. The caption to this review is borrowed from the admirable Mr Winters. The Bizet variations and the Strauss suite of 5 pieces are new to me so far as I recall. Gould's wonderful Bach-playing is easily obtained elsewhere, as Ken Winters says in his excellent liner-note, and this set displays some part of his true range. One oddity - there seems to be a settled mindset among record-producers that classical virtuosi don't know their own names.
And what neither he nor any other player I've ever heard can equal is the sublime suppleness and resourcefulness of Serkin's rhythm in the upward scale theme that dominates the movement. The second disc takes us into the 19th and 20th centuries. He and I would rather be sorry than safe, but I simply feel that the caricature of Gould as an eccentric, however true it may be of his personal comportment, is nonsense in respect of his playing. If that makes him sound like some brand of highland malt whisky it's a brand to which I am thoroughly addicted.
I think this album is not good.Why.First,Because there is no Bach in this album.Although Philips put Byrd and Gibbons in this album,I think this album is not good enough.Second,Philips can put [Gould plays Mozart or Beethoven:Piano sonatas] in this album.But they did not.This is very strange.Only one thing I like is:Gould plays Strauss Five piano pieces.This is the reason why I bought this album is I like to enjoy Mr.Gould plays Strauss.If you like to enjoy Gould plays Strauss or Bizet,this album is a good choice.If you do not like Gould plays Strauss or Bizet,do not buy this album.
There is, apparently, no end to the argument over which pieces should or should not have been included in this recording. Gould makes the Prokofiev sonata sound as if it's demonically possessed, such is the vitality of his playing in that piece.In short, this album demonstrates that Gould's mastery of the keyboard repertoire extended considerably beyond the preludes and fugues of Bach. The Haydn sonata that rounds out Disc 1 was performed toward the beginning of Gould's career at Columbia Records and stands in stark contrast, interpretatively speaking, to his re-recording of the same piece at the very end of his life.Disc 2 begins with Bizet's Chromatic Variations, a rather anachronistic piece in Gould's discography because it provides a rare glimpse of Gould-as-virtuoso, replete with thundering octaves and shimmering scales.
The Scarlatti pieces are full of sparkle and imagination, and suggest that Gould might have become one of the greatest interpreters of Scarlatti's sonatas if only he had recorded more of it. The Scriabin pieces are beautifully sculpted, suggesting once again the unrealized potential in that particular slice of keyboard literature. But if one looks strictly at what it actually contains, the album provides a pretty thoughtful representation of Gould's non-Bach output and is an interesting compilation of music in its own right.About half of Disc 1 is devoted to English virginal music by Byrd and Gibbons which Gould identified as some of his favorite music in the keyboard literature.
Richard Strauss was a composer whose piano works were championed by Gould against popular opinion, and whose music was - like that of Byrd and Gibbons - very dear to Gould's heart. So compelling is his take on the ones in D major and G major that they may never again be equalled. The Mozart Prelude and Fugue in C major is right up Gould's alley, and does quite an admirable job of filling in by proxy for the missing Bach works that previous reviewers lamented.
The Berg sonata had been part of Gould's repertoire since his teenage years or earlier, and harkens back to his "Hallmark" recordings of the 1940s and 50s prior to his professional debut. He could play absolutely anything he wanted to, so complete was his musical knowledge and piano technique, and we are fortunate that he was allowed that freedom.
Gould was one of the most famous of Bach players, but there is no Bach here. I loved the sonatas of Berg and Prokofiev--heavy mainstream modernism, where GG was really in his element. That's like an Orson Welles retrospective which doesn't include "Citizen Kane." Were they thinking that GG fans would have his Bach already. No telling, but maybe Gould himself would have appreciated the eccentricity of this selection.There's still plenty of good listening, though. The Haydn is very fine, and the Olde English pieces (Gibbons & Byrd) were new to me, and something of a revelation. And it all comes in a nice-looking package.
|
