R: Re: "Which Goldberg Variations?" redux

[madiva <madiva@working.it>]

I agree ! The '81 "Goldberg Variations"is an excellent video recording.
It show us  the magic Gould's skills  as performer, as "musician/
 technician", as sensitive artist.
After him what performers realized such programs ?

Best regards

Valeria Massari

----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Jo Watts <mwatts@RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
To: <F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 8:32 PM
Subject: Re: "Which Goldberg Variations?" redux


> I'll pipe in and say the '81's all the way for me.  It's that recording
> that allowed me (a musical layperson) to appreciate the earlier studio
> recording. I'm putting the emphasis on recording here because I think that
> the latter Goldbergs (and the Siegfried Idyll records) are so interesting
> as technological explorations into the music.  They're really not at all
> about *performance* per se so in the long run comparing the the earlier
> versions and latter versions is like comparing apples and oranges as the
> aims are so different. It's like Gould had at his disposal the means to
> create a version from his music kit.  I'm going out on a limb and I'm
> going to posit that by the date of the recording of the latter Goldbergs
> Gould DID give up performing-- it was a mere coincidence that his fingers
> touched the keys of the piano at all.  If he could have mixed the record
> through other technological means (and in Dolby), he would just as well
> have done so! Unlike the recorded performances from the 50's, the final
> rendition of the Goldbergs was never meant to be performed in public.
> I'd be interested to know how the medium defines the message and how this
> shapes our taste and preferences for one recording over another.
>
> Mary Jo Watts
> mwatts@rci.rutgers.edu
> listowner, f_minor
>