Re: GG: Bach sarabande, and more on the repeats question

[Jörgen Lundmark <jorgen.lundmark@sundsvall.nu>]

Hello all,

This is a most interesting discussion, and thanks to Bradley's knowledge of
the repertoire we get a concrete example of how Gould digressed from the norm.

In my personal experience, the most interesting interpreters frequently depart
from tradition and the text. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I would be so
bold as to say that the former is more common. Remember, Gould talked of
himself as a recreator, a creative link, rather than "just playing the notes".

What I think Bradley fails to appreciate, is the fact that music is there to
be experienced by the listener. If Gould/Horowitz/Richter/Heifetz are able to
convey for many -- both non musicians and professional performers -- a deeply
satisfying interpretation, albeit unconventional, you cannot just brush them
off as "acting against common praxis". This does not, on the other hand mean,
you shouldn't point out these "deficiencies". On the other hand, to call them
"slashed" versions of the music is not very enlightening.

I can understand Bradley's irritation as a scholar and active HIP, but if
every performer did stick to the "norm" we would be much the poorer as music
consumers.

>
> If Glenn Gould was "right" that music should be trimmed back to AAB, then
> *everybody* else was "wrong" in the way they composed the music.
>
> It's revisionism.
>

Why make it  a question of right and wrong? A masterwork has much too much to
offer, to be put into a scholar straight jacket. Again, discussions on these
rules are always interesting and important. We mustn't forget Gould's main
thesis, that a performer always should have something new  -- and relevant! --
to say about o piece of music. The example of the theatre, where
re-interpretations of the classics are the norm and not the exception, could
well be a lesson for the musical world.

Too many of today's musical performers are bland and uninteresting. Too much
emphasis is put on tradition and detail, where the ability to communicate with
an audience is almost forgotten.

Best regards,
Jorgen