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RE: [F_minor] Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata



This is the most important aspect of the discussion - the examination of velocity. The Gould performance of the "Moonlight" on the faster side, the Brahms 1st concerto with the Bernstein on the slower side are *revelatory* interpretations, which few of contemporary interpretations are. (And I hope to find the recording Fred mentions below.)

Back in March on this list, I recalled the passage from Fred Hoyle's classic "The Black Cloud", where an alien thought the "Hammerklavier" was great, but needed to be faster.

In a similar vein of velocity exploration, one of my recordings of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, by Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (Pickwick/Masters CD), Zander takes the 1st Allegro, 3rd Adagio, and 4th Presto movements each about 10-25% faster than most of my other recordings (paradoxically, the 2nd Molto vivace is slower than my other recordings). On the face of this, it's outrageous; but on listening, you hear structures and patterns in the music that just aren't apparent in the more conventional tempi, and in the end, it's a compelling interpretation.

Charles

At 1:23 PM -0400 6/24/08, Houpt, Fred wrote:
On a side note, I once heard a tape of GG experimenting with a Beethoven
Piano Concerto - perhaps it was 1 or 2?....and he hired a young pianist
and an orchestra.  So, he gets everyone in place and he says that he
fully knows that what he is about to ask them to do is completely
perverse and crazy but he wants to hear what it sounds like.  They
proceed to play (I think) the first movement at a super ultra slow
tempo.  The very familiar music was so altered that I just listened in
awe at how transformed it was.  You know, as crazy as his experiment
was, the beauty of Beethoven's music survived the time-tunnel
experiment.  It sounded as if the music was coming from another
dimension; that is what I recall. It was sort of a mind bending aural
experience.  Whether GG wanted to achieve this or why it occurred to him
I do not know. The experiment was very interesting and I hope that some
of you can track it down and listen for yourself.

I am telling you this long story because it highlights the lengths GG
took to examine velocity. He was exploring, as usual, an effect in
performance that forces the music into extreme dimensions, thereby
revealing inner textures that our normal hearing/playing will not
reveal. How he sees into a piece is his genius. Sometimes, I guess, we
just have to take it on faith that he has something he is trying to show
us or even himself and a good look/listen will be worth the effort.



Fred Houpt Toronto
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