Glenn Gould did comment in quite some
detail on Op.19. He wrote the liner notes to his studio recording with Leonard
Bernstein. My copy of these liner notes came with the Glenn Gould Legacy series
of recordings. I think this set of liner notes is reprinted in "The Glenn
Gould Reader". I remember Gould commenting on the opening theme figuration
as being an "inverted Mannheim skyrocket" and that he thought that
Beethoven's cadenza to the first movement, which was written IIRC 10
years after the concerto, was the best cadenza that Beethoven ever wrote. I
also seem to remember reading that Glenn Gould conducted the concerto with
another piano soloist at the end of his life. I think he must have liked the
concerto quite a bit.
Regards,
Eric Cline
Sr. R & D Chemist
Graphic Arts Synthesis Group
Reichhold, Inc.
Global Coating and Performance Resins
Phone Toll Free: 1-800-448-3482 ext.8116
e-mail: eric.cline@reichhold.com
http://www.reichhold.com
(Click here to go to the Reichhold home page)
-----Original Message-----
From: Elmer Elevator
[mailto:bobmer.javanet@RCN.COM]
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 12:55 PM
To: F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU
Subject: Re: Bob's Stupid Musical
Question
Wow! You're
smart! You know some STUFF!
I like how he offered it to the publisher for a
discount. I wonder what 20 percent off of Beethoven's Fifth sounds like. I see
a recording label, all the covers are just UPC bar codes, and you can get cheap
discount versions of all the classics. The orchestras meet secretly at night in
the corners of big parking lots. The conductor wears a mask.
In the '80s, New Yorker movie critic Pauline Kael
wrote about a new trend in mega-popular Hollywood mall movies
("Titanic" is a good recent example) ... she described them as movies
that have powerful impact while you're watching them in the dark theater, but
they're entirely consumed while you're in the theater. An hour later, you can't
remember anything about them, they leave no permanent emotional or æsthetic
impress. Entirely consumable in the theater. That's what this piece sounded
like to me.
Did GG ever comment critically on this piece? He sure
seems to have rehearsed it Real Well. Even playing live -- he hit all the right
notes, splicing could not help him in Leningrad. What's sort of unique about this live orchestra
recording is that I can't hear any of my beloved humming; the orchestra drowns
it out, I guess.
This work, Op.
19 was really Beethoven's earliest serious attempt at a piano concerto. There
is an earlier work in E-flat major, written when Beethoven was 14 or so in Bonn, but it is clearly the work of a talented
student. Beethoven's C major concerto Op.15 actually post dates Op.19 by
several years.
I
know that Beethoven told his publisher that Op.19 was "not my best
work" and offered it to them at a discount. I also know that he revised
the work substantially from its earlier version.
However,
IIRC the earlier version is now lost. Beethoven may also have been working on
an alternate finale which has been published as the Rondo in B-flat for piano
and orchestra. The Rondo was not completed by Beethoven, but by Carl Czerny. I
agree that Op.19 is not his best work, but it is still far superior to that of
his contemporaries (except of course Mozart).
Regards,
Eric Cline
Sr. R
& D Chemist
Graphic Arts Synthesis Group
Reichhold,
Inc.
Global
Coating and Performance Resins
Phone
Toll Free: 1-800-448-3482 ext.8116
e-mail: eric.cline@reichhold.com
http://www.reichhold.com
(Click
here to go to the Reichhold home page)