Re: Gould/Chopin

[Andrew Rowe <RoweA@dauntseys.wilts.sch.uk>]

Hi

I would disagree that Gould contributed to Romanticism in (all) his playing. If you listen to his Bach playing, it is rhythmically precise, no 'Romantic rubato'. For example, if you listen to the 1956(?) recording of Partita No.1 (Bb), particularly in the Gigue, Gould doesn't slur the melody, he plays the entire piece staccato, with little dynamic variation between the melody and accompaniment. I would suggest that Gould's playing of Bach is the least Romantic ever recorded on the piano. It was this that makes Gould's playing so interesting.  Gould wouldn't play Chopin in public because he believed that as a composer, he was not great, and unable to develop his ideas (not true of course!). 

Regards, 

Andrew Rowe

>>> Matthew van Wollen <mvw@CANADA.COM> 05/29/02 05:37am >>>
Hello F-minors,

Sorry to be a late contributor to this thread, but I was out of town..
As I have written before, my opinion of why Gould shunned Chopin is along
the lines of Marcos' thinking -- Gould contributed so much romanticism to
his playing, that when confronted with the epitome of romantic composers,
he simply had nothing to add! Remember that Gould publically stated on many
occasions that he felt it was pointless to perform (read: record) a work
unless the musician had something new to add to it. And in my opinion, with
Chopin already so rife with romanticism, Gould was simply following his own
dictum.

Cheers,
Matthew van Wollen
www.chopinsociety.org