Re: GG: Wish list

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Daniel Vaiser wrote:

> Anyway,  I recently purchased a copy of a video tape in the Glenn Gould
> Series of Video Tapes on Sony and the one I have is entitled "Question
> of Instrument" and in it he plays the Chromatic Fantasy, which he
> doesn't like.  Did he ever play the fugue which accompanies that?  Just
> curious.  All the best.

Not to my knowledge.  It may have been one of those pieces that he played
as a kid and then filed away because it was associated with the
Chromatic Fantasy.  I like that tape (actually all 3 of the Bruno M. set)
very much, but it strikes me as odd that they devoted so much of the one
hour time on *that* piece, which GG unabashedly hated.  They even had to
break it up midway so that it wouldn't be a complete performance and
there could be time to 'dis on it a bit.  Then, GG proceeds to play *tiny*
snipets of various partita segments (pieces he really *liked*) as a teaser
for the complete Partita in D, which I think is my least favorite of that
set.  One wishes that there could have been lecture/performance tapes of
the Inventions & Sinfonias, Partitas, WTC 1 & 2, etc.  A substantial part
of Gould's creative and musical thought process seems to have been
dedicated to showing how lame the "established" pianistic repertoire was
and why.  Too bad there weren't a few more tapes of GG playing stuff he
really liked.

jh