about Mozart, Musicians and Gould

[Sara Meneses <samenese@du.edu>]

If I am too repetitive and you already know why Gould didn't like Mozart
just read the last paragraph.

        About Mozart, Gould states (in his interviews) that
he never understood how Mozart left untouched canonic posibilities
for the left hand, in other words, he left most of the work to the right
hand leaving the left one to a supporting role.

        To me, Gould missed poliphony in neo-classical music and
to his "contrapuntal" mind, Mozart music didn't offer enough challenges as
Bach's, where there are at least 2 independent, equally important voices
together (unlike most neo-classical, where one melody and its servant, the
accompaniment, is the rule). He just didn't like music that was too
predictable,
and most of all (for me at least) he didn't like music that was so
obviously simplified (music that didn't have any secret kept for the
composer and performer), which left very little to the imagination. So I
guess to Glenn Gould, Mozart's music didn't allow him to "create" (so
much) as a performer, because everything was just so simplified
already in the score, in its mostly predictable harmonies, scales and
arpeggios.
         When you think about it, Gould is great at letting you know
what is going on in the music, when he plays Bach he lets you know what
voice is saying what at a certain moment, he clarifies the
"dark" passages for you, he does the work for the listener, and at the
same time he makes you think. When he plays something like Schoenberg he
does exactly the same thing he clarifies and translates something that at
first might seem absurd, but then when he plays it he makes the listener
understand it, even something like Schoenberg. Now, with Mozart I don't
think there is much to translate or clarify, there is nothing visibly dark
that he can help you clarify, and maybe that's why he didn't like it.

        I happen to like Mozart, however, there are many good points that Gould
mentions, often to the horror of most musicians.
        To someone like Gould Mozart music didn't offer enough intellectual work,
or harmonies (from the composer point of view), as a creative performer
who saw himself more like a composer that played the piano, he was very
hard on judging others ways of writing music, and always looked for the
things that they didn't do, instead of what they did accomplish.
To him Mozart was too theatrical, and perhaps not very sincere (may I
suggest Don Giovanni as an example?), and for someone like Gould, who put
so much intensity in his music this (superficial) theatricality was
offensive.

        After all this, I am sorry I don't know of any other performer who
doesn't like Mozart. I think most do, and if they don't they are not as
open as to express some kind of dislike like Gould. Maybe it would help to
know that most musicians are taught that you should be like an actor, when
you play a piece you are acting a part, it is not you, but a character,
and so in a way it is irrelevant whether you like the character or not, if
you are a good actor you still have to be convincing with the character
you are playing. I assume that most performers do this when they play
Mozart. But then why didn't Gould do this?, maybe because he
was unique and also wanted to be different in everything, and he didn't
care much of others in that respect.


Sara M.