Re: Gould on Mozart?

[Vincent Vo <Govincevo@AOL.COM>]

Having listened to the Mozart of Ingrid Haebler, Mitsuko Uchida, and Alfred
Brendel for such a long period of time, Glenn Gould's Mozart probably
confused me a great deal when I heared them for the first time. I'm not a
musician, but even I probably had the reaction of "what was he thinking?!?"
when I first encountered these recordings.

Yet, two recordings in which he made still continues to amaze me. They are
the sonata in D-major, K284 and the sonata in c-minor, K457.

The D-major sonata has an amazing set of variations in the 3rd movement in
which Gould brings out such a child-like joy in the music of Mozart. While in
the 2nd movement of the c-minor sonata, I've never heard Gould play with such
a depressing emotional state (along with the Brahms Intermezzi and the adagio
of the "Hammerklavier"). The movement is played slowly, beautifully, and the
tone stays with the listener from the first notes to the last. Personally,
its one of the most memorable of Gould's playing.

What's interesting and often debated about Gould's playing of the Mozart
Sonatas is probably his choice in tempi. In the various Real Audio files in

http://www.gould.nlc-bnc.ca/ra/real.htm

indicates how Gould played many of the Mozart sonatas without taking too many
liberties. They are an absolutely fascinating view of Gould. His playing of
the K310 sonata, the K333, and the K331... makes the listener realize how
cheated we are that Gould never recorded the Mozart sonatas with a little
more respect to the score and to the composer.