GG:Ligeti, and others

[jcs@grove.ufl.edu]

I don't know if Gould ever even acknowledged Ligeti, but I suspect that 
he may have somewhere, given his large body of work and the popularity 
(albeit brief and somewhat limited) that Ligeti enjoyed after his works 
were featured in 2001.  

I have the "Gould Plays Contemporary Music" CD, on which my favorite 
works are the Valen and the Pentland. Today I managed to find the video 
of Gould playing the Emperor Concerto (on the Kultur label), which I find 
to be very well done, at a much more reasonable price than the sony 
edition videos.

I have the recording of his Opus 1 on the "Glenn Gould: The Composer" CD. 
I am somewhat ambivalent about it. I very much enjoy the first few 
minutes, but after awhile the piece begins to feel very forced to me, as 
if I can hear the entire year of effort that Gould put into it. Also, I 
echo Diamond's complaint that the voicing is too narrow, and that on the 
whole it is on the dry side. On the other hand, I am very fond of his 
bassoon sonata, particularly the second movement. 


Jeremy