Re: [F_MINOR] Piano works we can't be without - was Glenn Gould's own preferences

[Jon Windust <jon@COGNOLOGY.COM.AU>]

Speaking of our favorites that we wouldn't want to be without, ABC Classic
FM in Australia recently surveyed its audience to ask them this question
about piano works.  Much to my surprise the Goldbergs, which was my choice,
came in at number 2.  Here's the full list.

http://www.abc.net.au/classic/classic100/countdown.htm

I wonder for how many people the choice of the Goldbergs was linked to Glenn
Gould's playing of them.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kate Clunies-Ross" <goldbergs@BTINTERNET.COM>
To: <F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 9:33 PM
Subject: [F_MINOR] Glenn Gould's own preferences


> We all, no doubt, have our favourites (and not-so-favourites!) among GG's
> recordings. Some may create such an emotional response in us that we would
> not wish to be without them, in fact we might value them so much that
life
> would seem diminished without the experienceof such music. However, we
might
> be less than ecstatic about other recordings...Perhaps what he was trying
to
> do was interesting, but we feel he failed to achieve his aims; perhaps we
> simply  think  a particular interpretation didn't work or (gasp!) was not
> very good!
>
> But did Gould himself have any favourites among his lifetime's output? He
> very rarely recorded anything twice; does that mean he was on the whole
> satisfied with his work? An obviousexception to this was the Goldberg
> Variations;  but at the time he made his second studio  recording in 1981
he
> did give his reasons for doing this. It is interesting that he did not
only
> cite the technical advances in recording that had occurred since the
> original 1955 version; he also spoke disparagingly about his own youthful
> playing. And this was about what is no doubt his most famous recording!
>
> But of course he left us plenty of other work. He lavished great care and
> attention on each effort, not only on the performance itself, but on the
> technical aspects of the recording process, so he evidently had very high
> standards and expectations about the finished result. But were these
> satisfied? He doesn't seem to have been  a vain man, so I doubt he
regarded
> everything he did as an unqualified success. And he did remark that he
> rarerly listened to his own recordings, he simply did not find this
> particularly pleasurable. But did he ever say which recordings he was
> particular proud of, or regarded fondly  -   and which did _not_ satisfy
> him, or in  which he failed to achieve his aims?
>
> **************************************************
> Signoff instructions, and user preference interface:
> http://email.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=f_minor&A=1
>
> F_minor Website (with early archive):
> http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~mwatts/glenn
> **************************************************
>
>

**************************************************
Signoff instructions, and user preference interface:
http://email.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=f_minor&A=1

F_minor Website (with early archive):
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~mwatts/glenn
**************************************************