Re: Haydn Piano Sonata

[jerry and judy <jerbidoc@zianet.com>]

>From: jerry and judy <jerbidoc@zianet.com>
>>
>>  I'm offering this from behind a bevy of upsided chairs, but I must
>point
>> out that the Gould The Last Six Sonatas of Haydn M2K 36947 really
>has no
>> equal, if as a pianist you want to hear what can be mined from late
>Haydn
>> sonatas.  The performance of the last sonata alone is worth the
>price of
>> the set.  Disc 2 by itself, with the Hoboken XVI 50 51 and 52, is
>worth
>> twice the total investment.  You will play it over and over, hearing
>new
>> things, new accents and very long lines etc.
>
>When I first heard the excerpt of the GG version of Haydn's Hob Xvi:48
>on the Images CD, I enjoyed it, but I wasn't sure how much. I had
>heard another version of that one (by Ax) on a Sony collection, and
>for some reason, I felt as though I "should" like the Ax version
>better.




Yes, this is 'typical'.  We tend to 'think' we know what's what, until we
find that we don't know so much...  I'm not talking about you, and I don't
know if this applies to you, but I know that I'm enough of a snob to fall
into this trap repeatedly, even though I know consciously that it's there!
An example of this is the GG performance of Schoenberg piano works, most of
which I had played for many years before hearing his statements.  But I had
always revered the Paul Jacobs' approach.  It turned out that his (Paul's)
was just an individual approach and GG's was a microscopically illuminating
exposure of the atonal and the tone row SOLUTION to the 20th century crisis
in Music!  There was obviously no comparison, after I had let go of my
foundational but 'faulty' *education* into modern musical aesthetics, be it
as it were...

>Eventually, I broke down and bought the GG Haydn Sonata CD anyway. (It
>helped that it was on sale and that I'd heard so many great things
>about it on F-Minor and that it was on sale!) I grew to love that CD.
>And when I listened to the Ax version of the piece, I could no longer
>tell why I had liked that one.

Yeah, this is what happens.  And it is so unexpected, so 'refreshing', and
so intriguing, that little in life can compare.  To be able to honestly
elevate Papa Haydn above Mozart, if only for just a transitional episode in
one's short life, is worth the meager price of admission!

>I made a cassette tape copy of the GG Haydn set to play in my car. It
>"magically" ended up in my mother's car, and she's *not* going to give
>it back to me. :->

Spread the news!, it is a rare bit of truth in a humdrum world of
predictable lines and circumstances.  Music needs more courageous
proponents in style of Gould, if possible.

Jerry