Glenn Gould Conducting the Siegfried Idyll

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@abs.net>]

What are the opinions on this piece? I know a lot of the critics hated it.
It's certainly not your (ahem) normal version of the piece. But I'd like
some *real* opinions. What do other Glenn Gould fans think?

I read one critic who admitted that it the recording sounded lovely and
that it was an interesting way of looking at the piece, but he insisted
that it should never be the listener's first -- or primary -- exposure to
the Siegfried Idyll. (Darn, that's a hard word to type!)

So before listening to the Glenn Gould version, I bought another version
and listened to that a couple of times. Then, I sprang for the Glenn Gould
version. I enjoyed it -- but at times, I felt as if the listener almost had
to be Glenn Gould himself to appreciate every note and every nuance. I've
listened to it several more times since then, and I think I'm beginning to
appreciate those nuances even more.

By the way, I have it on a Sony CD. I've heard that on the original
recording, you can hear GG saying "Wonderful" or something like that at the
end. Is that true? If so, why did they take that out?!

------
Anne M. Marble