GG: Discovering modern music

[Michael Davidson <mcdavids@pipsc.ca>]

Hi folks,

In regards to David's question...

>    "...there was his old 'love':  after all, as he later reacalled,
>     it had been Hindemith's symphony Mathis der Maler (Mathis the
>     Painter) that levelled the way for the fifeen-year-old's 
>     appreciation of contemporary music."

> Does anyone know where it was that GG admitted Hindemith 
> had paved the way?

I am aware of one fairly early but perhaps insignificant 
reference to Hindemith.  On Gould's 1953 Hallmark RS3 album
there are short biographies of the artists and Gould is
described as 

    "He has been strongly attracted to the moderns, especially
     Hindemith, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and the 12-tone
     school in general."

The Hallmark RS3 was a 10" 33 rpm.  Side one had Gould playing 
Piano Opus 1 by Alban Berg.  Side two he accompanied the violinist
Albert Pratz on pieces by Shostakovich, Taneieff, Prokofieff.

He played Berg Opus 1 again at the Tchaikovski Conservatory in
Moscow in 1957 along with Anton Webern Variations for Piano
Opus.62 No.4.  No mention of Hindemith but the remarks from 
the stage included one of my favourite Gouldian lines.  Of the
Webern piece he says:  "I would also like to apologise because
I haven't practised it for two years."

Michael