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

[Maksim Drabkin <mdrabkin@gis.net>]

Andrew J Hrycyna wrote:

> 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.

Hello to all.

I have this LP, and as a native russian speaker I testify that the above
translation is correct.  Some minor inaccuracies don't change the
meaning and, therefore, don't need to be mentioned. I just want to add
that the author of the article is Vladimir Tropp.  He is a professor of
Russian Academy of Music, pianist himself.  My wife was his student for
a long time.  She said that he was on both Gould's concerts in Moscow
and became a serious GG's fan since then.

Maksim