GG: Wagner, transcriptions

[Michael Arnowitt <arnowitt@sover.net>]

...
 
> Andrew Thayer
> 
> PS. Does anyone know if Gould wrote his transcriptions down, or if they
> have been dictated? I am also having trouble getting the Gould videos,
> which are delisted in Great Britain. Does anyone know any way of getting
> them now? Any help would be much appreciated.
> 

Hello and greetings - I am new to the list - joined a few weeks ago (I am a
concert pianist with a strong interest in Gould's art).  Regarding his
transcriptions, since I was interested in possibly performing them, I did
make a few inquiries a couple of years ago.

A woman from Schott in Germany wrote me that there is someone there who is
looking over Gould's transcriptions and that work is in progress, but it
will probably take a while before you see any of them published.

I did personally make a trip to the National Library of Canada in Ottawa to
do a little research, and found a possibly incomplete transcription by Gould
to Richard Strauss' "Metamorphosen" (I'm also working on a transcription of
this piece myself), which I believe was one of Glenn's favorite Strauss
compositions.

Judging from the handwriting, I'm not surprised that his transcriptions
haven't been published yet - it's definitely going to take some work.  I
guess with a transcription you have the added element of not only Gould's
manuscript but the score of the original work to factor in as well, which
can be helpful in deciphering Gould's scrawl, but also one more thing to
check and proof against.  

I didn't find any Wagner transcriptions at the National Library, but perhaps
these are in Germany with Schott.  I guess it would make sense that if I
found this Strauss one that others, too, were written down by Glenn and not
just played by memory or off an orchestral score.

Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding my notes, e-mails, etc. on this
topic on my computer at the moment, so I am writing all this from memory.
If anybody is really interested, I can dig a little harder.

It would be possible to write out Glenn's piano transcriptions from a
recording by ear ... if that's what you mean by "dictated" ... at least I
have sufficient ear-training to do this, and I imagine others could as well.
But if Gould manuscripts do exist, of course, there would be no need to go
through that sort of work.

Michael


Michael Arnowitt
4 Wilder Street, Montpelier, Vermont 05602  USA
arnowitt@sover.net

>
>> ----------
>> From: 	Teun Q. D. Waverijn[SMTP:WaverijnConcerts@hetnet.nl]
>> Sent: 	15 December 1998 20:19
>> To: 	Thayer A
>> Subject: 	Re: Wagner?
>> 
>> I'm a young Gould fan as well (19), and I was quit surprised by the answer
>> you gave mister Rulla, for I gave him basically the same.
>> 
>> What I didn't know that multi- tracking was used for the recording. I
>> don't exactly know what it is. Does it imply that he didn't play the whole
>> piece 'at once', ?but he recorded it in different takes? 
>> 
>> Me and a friend of mine, where astonished about the 'meistersinger
>> transcription'. We both play piano, and we believed ?it could not be
>> possible to play the piece without having a third hand (like I wrote
>> mister Rulla). 
>> 
>> Kind regards,
>> 
>> T W, Maarssen, Netherlands.
>> 
>Dear Teun,
>
>> Yeah, that's right. I can't remember where I read about it now, but he
>> recorded it first on one track, then recorded over it while listening on
>> head phones, to fill in all the missing voices. I know this was done in
>> the meistersingers, but I am not certain if it was used at all in the
>> other transcriptions. I believe that Joanna Macgregor has used the same
>> technique in recording the player-piano studies by Nancarrow. It would be
>> interesting to know if Gould may have used more rubato, had he not needed
>> to dub the extra parts in (although I doubt he would have) as it can not
>> be easy to get everything to fit together perfectly. One also wonders if
>> he may have used this technique in other recordings of pieces intended for
>> two hands, eg. Bach's Fugues etc. to attain the perfection and consistency
>> of phrasing in the voices. Presumably he would not have been bothered by
>> the 'ethics' of doing so. Does anyone have any views on this, or know
>> anything about whether he may have done so?
>> 
>> Andrew Thayer,
>> 
>> PS. Does anyone know if Gould wrote his transcriptions down, or if they
>> have been dictated? I am also having trouble getting the Gould videos,
>> which are delisted in Great Britain. Does anyone know any way of getting
>> them now? Any help would be much appreciated.
>> 
>