RE: GG: Beethoven/Liszt SIXTH Symphony

[Kristen Immoor <kimmoor@mindspring.com>]

At 11:05 AM -0600 8/29/97, jerry and judy wrote:
[snipping]
>The 9th, what can I say?, not only is the piano an inadequate substitute
>for orchestra, but it can't begin to approach the expression of the voice.
...
>Liszt hesitated about whether to publish the finale. In 1864 he
>wrote,"After a great deal of experimentation in various directions, I was
>unable to deny the utter impossibility of even a partially satisfactory and
>effective arrangement of the fourth movement. I hope you will not take it
>amiss if I dispense with this and regard my arrangements ( )... complete at
>the end of the third movement of the Ninth. -"  Simple piano scores of the
>4th mvmnt had already existed for the use of choir leaders etc.  Yet, a few
>months later, he finished the chorale finale and the set was published in
>1865.
>
>Imagine the acrimony if Glenn had seriously recorded the Ninth!?!  Anybody??

Actually, I've never heard the 9th as a piano transcription, but I find the
concept intriguing. I shall be out and about today looking for a recording
the Liszt transcrpition, as I cannot imagine how anyone tickling the
ivories could capture the bombastic "oomph!" of the orchestral work.

As a side note however, and in response to the above-posed Gould question,
I think that a GG recording of the Beethoven/Liszt 9th would be far from
lacking in expressions of the voice, and I fully expect that the choir
would have been rendered - albeit in solo form - with great gusto. ;-)

Regards,
Kristen

______________________________________________________________________________

"I'm very much the anti-hero in real life, you see, but I compensate madly
in my dreams."

                                  -- Glenn Gould, "Toronto"