Re: GG and Mozart...Rubsam and Bach...GG Goldbergs

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

On Fri, 5 Sep 1997, Kristen Immoor wrote:

(...)
> Personally, I
> am one who enjoys GG's Beethoven and Mozart, and it is the precisely
> selfish audacity of it all that I love. I respect the brain that I hear
> behind the music on those GG Beeth/Mozart sonatas; the playfully arrogant,
> genuinely pedagoguish pianist who was determined to leave his mark, by hook
> or by crook.
(...)

The "pedagoguish" there reminds me of the booklet notes to Wolfgang
Rubsam's Bach recordings on the piano, on Naxos discs (some were
previously released on Bayer).  But I wouldn't characterize Rubsam as in
any way arrogant, or *merely* pedagoguish.  In both his notes and his
playing, Rubsam is clearly out to demonstrate a fresh, rhetorical manner
of playing Bach on the piano.  This is based partly on his musical
sensibilities, and partly on research into baroque aesthetics.  The
recordings are a way to get that style into the ears of piano students and
teachers, who might not have seriously entertained the notion of Bach on
the piano as being so free rhythmically (loose at the note level, within
absolutely clear bigger beats). 

Personally, I think these recordings are terrific, and generally
underrated so far.  Rubsam treats the piano almost as if it were a
clavichord, and his attention to detail is remarkable...yet long lines and
compositional structure are also there.  To me, they're at least as
interesting as Gould's interpretations, and certainly much less stiff. 
They remind me a bit of Andras Schiff, too, and some of Joao Carlos
Martins' work.  One of the most amazing things is how quietly Rubsam can
play. 

By contrast, about once every 18 months I listen to the Pogorelich disc of
two of the English suites.  That's a supreme example of everything that is
wrong with mainstream Bach interpretation on the piano: overdriven fast
movements, no sense of across-the-beat phrasing, no breathing, and
horribly distorted Sarabandes ("Hello, beat?  Yeah, your mother wants to
know where you are, she's worried.").  It's as if he's trying to get the
reaction, "Ooo, that Pogorelich can play fast and cleanly, he must be
REALLY GOOD!"  I heard another superstar pianist noted for his astonishing
power play the a-minor English suite in concert, and it was just like that
as well: Bach straitjacketed and then stapled to a bullet train.  Made me
want to run screaming from the auditorium.  I'm glad the Rubsam discs
exist to counteract that atrocity.  (I didn't like Wilhelm Kempff's Bach,
either...not so driven, just boring.)

Back to GG...yeah, it's often fashionable to dislike his Mozart or his
Dispassionata, but am I the only person who hates the way he recorded the
French suites and the French Ouverture?  Where's the sense of
gracefulness, of gentle flow, of dance?  His English suites are somewhat
better, and the Partitas better yet...because those suites are less and
less French in style, and can better stand his all-notes-are-strong
approach.  And I *like* his "party tricks" in Partita #5, from back when
he was still using natural dynamic contrast within phrases. 

And a few opinionated comments on this: 

>    The CBC recording of the GBergs is from 1954, right before the 1955
> debut recording. It's quite innocent-sounding, and even a bit nervous 
> to my
> ears. The 1955 version is GG's famous CBS "Hello world!" recording, and
> overall it sounds like 32 flaming arrows shot from a Steinway bow. In
> comparison, the 1980 CBS recording (which is sometimes erroneously referred
> to as the final recording,) is performed as a unified work in which all 32
> pieces flow naturally from one to the other. It reflects a lifetime of
> learning for Gould, and makes a wonderful bookend for a career that
> encompassed enormous growth and passion. The 1959 Salzburg recording is
> chiefly one of novelty value, as not many GG live recordings are widely
> available. 

I like your characterizations of the 1954 and 55 versions, think they're
right on.  Something I especially enjoy about the 55 is that GG sounds as
if he's really *enjoying* the piece, and he projects his enthusiasm.  But
I must disagree with your assessment of the 59 and 81.  The 59 is, for me,
the best of them all, not just a novelty.  GG lets the piece flow and
sing, and he holds the structure together well, simply *playing the music*
where all the other three recordings (especially the 81) seem somewhat
self-conscious, like Linus' line in an old _Peanuts_ comic strip, "Aaagh,
I'm aware of my tongue!"  The 81 is, in my opinion, almost a disaster. 
Sure, GG is shooting for intellectual unity through rethinking some of his
tempos and transitions, and he projects interest at lots of levels at
once.  BUT the joy of living is gone, sort of as it is also gone in his
really scary Brahms g-minor Ballade (but it *works* for that piece).  GG
let his mind take over, shoving away positive emotions and body.  This is
not an improvement, in my opinion.  I think GG was a better musician when
he played more by natural instinct, by his innate musicality.  By 81 he
was so self-absorbed with trying to make a point, that his performance
seems horribly one-sided: all intellect, no soul.  Impressive in its own
way, but unsatisfying. 

To paraphrase from the expurgated TV version of _Ferris Bueller's Day
Off_:  "[By 1981 GG was] so tight, if you put a lump of coal in his fist,
in a few days you'd have a diamond." 

EUOUAE

Bradley Lehman ~ Harrisonburg VA, USA ~ 38.44N+78.87W
bpl@umich.edu ~ http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/