"Why use words to waste a half hour reading when you could just plunk the damn thing on the Victrola and hear for yourself what it is." Elmer Elevator
Yes, I agree and the same thing applies to all the written material that you see on the walls in galleries beside paintings explaining what the picture is supposed to convey. If it needs all that reading to understand the art, the artist has failed to make his or her point or the writer assumes that the viewer cannot see.
I suggest listening to the music on amazon etc. and making your own decision about whether you want to spend your money or not. Incidentally the "NPR Guide" page 385, that I quoted awhile back suggests that for Brahms late piano works "GG's accounts, recorded in 1960, are among his most affecting statements" etc. the writer doesn't seem that enthralled with GG on other music except his Bach, of course.