RE: Metronomes (was Re: No, Gould's so fast)

["Cline, Eric" <Eric.Cline@reichhold.com>]

How about his recording of the Beethoven "Emperor". I think he says in the
Sony video performance of Op.73 or in an article that he wrote that he
wanted to treat the concerto as an extension of the Eroica symphony, which
is why he plays the opening flourishes more in strict time rather than an
improvisitory manner. I am not sure he was successful in transforming it
into a three movement symphony, but it is an interesting performance and
definitely not "showy".


Eric Cline x 8116 
Senior R & D Chemist 
Emulsion, Urethane & UV Polymer Synthesis
Reichhold, Inc. 
North American Coatings Business
e-mail: eric.cline@reichhold.com <mailto:eric.cline@reichhold.com> 
http://www.reichhold.com <http://www.reichhold.com> 
(Click here to go to the Reichhold home page)


		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Bradley Lehman [mailto:bpl@umich.edu]
		Sent:	Tuesday, March 21, 2000 2:35 PM
		To:	f_minor@email.rutgers.edu
		Subject:	Re: Metronomes (was Re: No, Gould's so fast)

		Daniel wrote:

		> I'm fascinated by Bradley's observation that Schnabel's
interpretation of
		> the Beethoven 4th makes the piano blend in with the
orchestra, while GG's
		> makes it stand out separately. This means that GG's perf
is directly
		contra
		> to his own dogma about concertos -- i.e, that he objects
to the
		> "competition" between orchestra and soloist, and that the
soloist should
		> play more of an "obligato"  role. His perf of the Brahm's
1sr seems closer
		> to putting his theory into practice.

		Well, my report this morning isn't the only way of hearing
it; it would be
		interesting to hear other reactions to this pair of
recordings.

		But what I meant about Schnabel playing like part of the
orchestra was: he
		seemed to realize when his own material was more textural
rather than
		thematic, and played it as a tone color in the same way that
an orchestral
		player contributes tone color to the whole.  Sometimes one's
own
		contribution is prominent, sometimes subordinate; the
conductor balances it.
		It's OK for the piano to accompany the oboe, or play inside
the string sound
		giving it a new color.  The piano's notes come through as a
textural brush
		stroke, not as distinguishable notes.  The result seems
symphonic.

		GG, by contrast, (at least the way I hear it...) plays in
the foreground
		almost all the time and holds the listener's interest to
what he is doing.
		We hear Glenn Gould In There Playing Lots of Notes.  He's
not necessarily
		trying to compete with the orchestra in terms of empty flash
or showiness.
		But he's either unable or unwilling to play uninterestingly,
even when the
		music seems to call for it.  (He wouldn't be Glenn Gould
otherwise!)  He
		doesn't subordinate his own notes into the texture as a
blend with the
		orchestra; he brings out every detail he can find.
Consequently we hear
		notes that we usually don't hear so clearly from other
pianists, but perhaps
		at the expense of overall flow and blend.  It's as if he is
playing a
		dissection that reveals in notes how Beethoven constructed
his special
		effects...effects that aren't so obvious as effects here
because they're
		deconstructed.

		I agree with you that his Brahms 1st with Bernstein is
closer to an
		orchestral approach.

		Bradley Lehman, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
		Dayton VA