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GG: some Gouldian Schubert & Scarlatti
On the recent topic of other pianists who exhibit Gouldian qualities, try
this one:
Schubert sonatas in c minor (958) and A major (959), Sony SK 46690 (Europe
only, I think), 1994. Mark Swartzentruber, piano.
An extensive excerpt of the booklet notes is at
http://www.solorecords.co.uk/files/records.html along with ordering
information (UK, and an import address in Ohio). Swartzentruber also has a
new Scarlatti disc and a forthcoming set of three Beethoven sonatas.
What about the Schubert disc seems particularly Gouldian?
- Extraordinary clarity of compositional structure, form, and motivic
elements
- Analytical performance and close recording perspective that both favor
clarity of inner parts and bass (a recording doesn't have to sound like a
performance in a concert hall)
- A sense of stillness and suspension of time in the slow movements
- Very little pedal
- Energetic drive in the fast movements, especially the finale of the c
minor sonata, but at the same time well-controlled and measured
- No flash for its own sake; everything that happens is structural
- The "Apollonian" as GG described it in himself
Bradley Lehman, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
Dayton VA