Re: GG: X-ray

[Karl Berry <karl@cs.umb.edu>]

    and the small preludes and fugues which seems solely to be a duty-job =

Oh, I love his little p's & f's and think they're marvelous :).
Amazing how we all find different things in his different pieces ...

    What do you think were the reason for Gould to avoid record all the =
    fugues and canons from the Art of Fugue on the piano?

I've often wondered this myself.  What an opportunity, now lost forever.

I've never read anything about it directly, but my hunch from indirect
letters, interviews, etc, is that he somehow attached the KdF to his
organ recording, which (he says) he couldn't finish because of different
physical requirements for the organ.  (Personally I think the uniformly
scathing reviews on the organ recording may have affected his lower back
even if unconsciously :)

He also performed it in concert many many times.  He might have had an
unconscious desire to stay away.

    Do you think he was intimidated by the responsibility of undertaking =
    this monumental work?

No.  In the booklet that comes with the Art of Fugue video, Bruno M.
says he was delighted to revisit the work on piano.  I can dig up the
exact words if you're interested.  GG was also informally obligated to
record all of Bach's keyboard works for Columbia.  All in all, I think
it's not at all unlikely that he would have made a complete piano
recording if he had lived.

Something to ask Bruno and the rest at the Gathering :).