[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
GG:Left Handed Gould
Dear F-minors,
The recent thread regarding the Bach Chacconne (BTW, thanks Bradley for
your illuminating post regarding this- it really is wonderful having a chance to
interact with people on this list that really know their stuff!), and the
current thread about Saint-Saens have got me wondering about pieces for the
ledt-hand only that Gould might have recorded. The idea of him being able to
conduct an entire piece with his right hand is irresistable! I know that
Saint-Saens wrote 6 etudes for left hand only that are nice enough, and Scriabin
(owing to his chronic RH tendonitis) certainly wrote pieces for the left hand
only that Gould may have found attractive. What then, if any, left hand pieces
did Gould record? BTW, back to the the Chacconne, Bradley pointed out that
Brahms had made a left-hand only transcription of this (that was apparently
enthusiastically received by Clara Schummann after she had problems with RH
tendonitis later in life). I'm happy to report that I've found a recording of
this. I picked up a curious CD by Leon Fleischer (on Sony) called "Leon
Fleischer recital", which consists entirely of pieces for left hand, including
the Brahms arrangement. I certainly prefer the Brahms to the Busoni, although
the ornaments are all wrong. I confess to never having heard of Fleischer, and
the liner notes have NO biographical information...does anybody know if
Fleischer even has the use of his RH?
Cheers,
Paulito
Paul Fawcett .***. .***. .***.
Department of Genetics * | | | * | | | * * | | | *
University of Georgia * | | | * * | | | * * | | | *
Athens, Ga * | | | * * | | | * | | | *
fawcett@bscr.uga.edu '***' '***' '***'