Re: GG: May 12, 1957 Moscow demonstration/recital

[Andrew J Hrycyna <ajh@world.std.com>]

K. asked whether someone was willing to translate the liner notes to an
old Melodiya LP., and I volunteered, despite some rusty Russian skills. 
Here are the results. 

The notes describe Gould's 1957 Soviet tour and the reception he got in
Moscow.  They also describe reaction to the public lecture he gave at
the Conservatory, recorded on the disc.  I love the comment from the
Russian musician whose job it was to translate on the spot Gould's
undoubtedly typically-Gouldian English into Russian. 

Speaking of translation, awkwardnesses and vaguenesses in what follows are
the result of some combination of the conventions of Soviet record-jacket
prose style and of my translating abilities.  You can place the blame
where you will. 

[K.: The first two paragraphs of the Russian are translated in the first
two English paragraphs at the end of the Melodiya notes. The last English
paragraph on the record jacket is cobbled together from various scattered
sentences, as you'll see. 
	This was fun.  Thanks for sending it.]

--------

Today there is hardly a musician or music lover who is not familiar with
the name of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.  His recordings are extremely
popular all over the world, especially those of works by J.S. Bach.  There
are also many Gould recordings of B eethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, and
twentieth century composers such as Schoenberg, Hindemith, Berg, Webern,
Krenek, and many others. 

Glen Gould lived only 50 years (1932-1982).  Twenty seven years of his
life were given to intense creative activity.  Nine years after the start
of his concert career, the young artist, at the peak of his fame, left the
concert platform to devote himself entirely to recording on discs. 

Here was an outstanding artistic nature: innovative performer, over-turner
of canons and traditions, creator of great riches of contemporary culture. 

The uniqueness of his personality, pierced with ideas of passionate
enlightenment, was evident in all the areas of Glenn Gould's many-sided
activities--from performance (he was master of not only the piano but also
the organ and harpsichord), to compositi on, to his many essays about
music, to interviews and lectures on radio and television, to commentaries
on his own recordings. 

In 1957, Glenn Gould appeared as guest artist in Moscow.  At that time his
name was not well known yet in Europe.  Not surprisingly, therefore, his
first Moscow appearance as pianist in the Great Hall of the Conservatory
on May 7, 1957, was attended by re latively few people.  Listeners at that
memorable concert noticed the sense of unusualness in the whole
proceedings.  They remembered even the external appearance of the artist: 
the way he sat very low at the piano on a special chair, his way of
conducti ng with his free hand while playing and before starting to play,
the characteristic habit of starting to sing as soon as he started to
perform.  Gould's repertoire also seemed unusual: "The Art of Fugue" and
the "Goldberg Variations" of Bach--compositions almost never performed on
the concert stage in those days--as well as sonatas little-known to a wide
public by Berg, Hindemith and Krenek.

The most unusual thing, however, was the playing of the pianist: it seemed
as if all the works performed were being sounded for the first time,
opening themselves up anew for listeners.  This was first of all true in
the case of the Bach.  In the Bach pla ying were especially clearly
evident the inner strength and power of the human personality of the
artist, the infinite artistic possibilities of that musician.  Listeners
were shaken by an unfolding sense of the boundlessness of this music. 

The Berg sonata, too, was taken up with absorbing interest. It sounded
unusually fresh, excited, animated, and, amid all that, clearly
constructed. 

A wonderfully exact review was given by G.G. Neihaus, who wrote: "Bach was
alive; Alban Berg was alive!  Only a huge talent, a great master, an
elevated spirit and deep soul could so grasp and so reproduce the 'old'
and the 'new' in the way Gould did.  It was as if his performance built a
bridge from Bach to our day."

Without exception critics noticed a technical perfection unbelieveable for
a 24-year-old pianist.  Among the delighted admirers of Gould, aside from
G. Neihaus, were such excellent Soviet musicians as V. Sofronitskij, S.
Feinberg, Y. Flier, M. Greenberg and many others.

All Gould's remaining concerts in Moscow and Leningrad were played to
overflowing audiences--word of his oustanding performances spread
instantly.  In this way his first success in Moscow was the beginning of
his triumphal European debut, the beginning of
 his world-wide recognition. 

Interest arose right away also in Gould as a personality.  During his
Moscow stay, he was invited to meet with students and teachers at the
Conservatory, in the Small Hall on May 12, 1957. 

L.N. Vlasenko, one of the initiators of this meeting and today a professor
at the Moscow Conservatory, recalls: "The young great musician expressed
the desire not only to play, but to talk about twentieth century
composers....  It was a Sunday, and in the
 overflowing hall, one felt a keen sense of expectation of something
important and special.  In the green room of the Small Hall, Gould
conducted his usual ritual--warmed his hands in a basin of hot water and
walked on stage.  He opened with the Berg sonata, and then began
enthusiastically speaking.  I translated as he spoke, and, believe me, it
wasn't easy. (A recording of the event was made by Mistislav Petrovich
Kovalev). 

"Gould sat at the piano in his usual manner--he leaned his face very low
into the keyboard; his hands were in a very low position, by which his
fingers commanded great intensity and at the same time unusual delicacy; 
and the independent and differentiated sounding of each finger was
remarkable.  While he was playing he produced a hypnotic effect, and was
himself in a state of deep immersion in the music.  Gould spoke, and it
was clear that the subject [of 20th centruy music] was close to him, that
he very easily related to the material, and most of all, that this music
was very dear to him.  His language was crystal clear, his thoughts were
exact, his appraisals were terse, exhaustive and categorical.  The whole
atmosphere of the event was permeated by intimacy and friendliness, and
an instant reaction was felt by the grateful and ardent student audience."

Without a doubt, this disc is a rare testimony to a direct contact between
an audience and one of the greatest artists of our time.  It features not
only the playing of the artist, but also his living words, addressed to
young musicians in the hall who we re his almost the same age as he.  It
is exactly this active and interested contact with an audience--which
Gould was soon and famously to turn away from, completely stopping
concertizing--that makes this recording unique. 

The character of Gould's verbal presentation is interesting: he puts his
accent not on clarifications and emphasis of complicated moments of
structure and language in contemporary music, but sooner on demonstrations
of that same music.  Interpretations of the music by the pianist are
unnecessary, as if formality and complications were not there; quite the
opposite: the music is marked by clarity and simplicity of thought, the
heat of enthusiasm, and depth of expression.  Gould's playing (in new
music and in Bach) realizes the thought expressed by him at this event
that the aesthetic principles that lie at the basis of contemporary music
have a five-century long tradition behind them.  This outstanding master
indeed unites "the old" and "the contemporary"  in a single, indissoluble
whole. 
							V. Tropp
                        Copyright Melodiya, 1984




Melodiya M10 45963 009 
Berg, Sonata
Webern Piano Variations
Krenek, Sonata No. 3, exc.
Bach, from Art of Fugue
Bach, from Goldberg Variations
Gould speaking on New Vienna School, Krenek, etc.