GG: his own 1982 perspective on the Goldbergs

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@UMICH.EDU>]

On Wed, 2 Oct 2002, [iso-8859-1] Jean-Christophe Ponsero wrote:
>(...)
> Of course, as far as numbers are concerned, I think a
> lot of scientists are fascinated by well-ordered
> works, the best example being the Golbergs and their
> incredible amout of symmetry. A fugue obviously
> corresponds to a scientific mind: identifying patterns
> in a bundle of notes, finding out how a single line
> varies independently from the others, and finally
> understanding the relations between superposed
> melodies is really a research work, a heuristic
> procedure just like reducing physical phenomena to
> simple laws with few variables. For me the scientific
> fascination about the Goldbergs (which is of course
> not the only reason I like them) is the same thing as
> the fascination about number Pi, in whose decimals any
> sequence of digits can be found, however long it may
> be. The Goldberg is one of these really universal
> works. (...)

I'm curious about what others of you here think of the following, from
Otto Friedrich's book, p312.  Joe Roddy, on assignment with _People_
magazine, went to Toronto in 1982 to interview Gould about the forthcoming
release of the remade Goldbergs.  According to Friedrich:

"The surviving tape of that interview contains Gould's astonishing attack
not only on his original performance of _The Goldberg Variations_ but on
the work itself.  He accuses Roddy of mistakenly supposing 'that I think
it's a great work, and I don't.  I think it's a very oversold work.' He
says there are some works that have haunted him for years--notably
Strauss's _Metamorphosen_--but _The Goldberg Variations_ is not one of
them.  'There are in the Goldbergs, I think, some of the very best moments
in Bach, which is saying an awful lot, but I think there are also some of
the silliest.  Things such as the canon at the fifth really do move me in
an extraordinary way, in as intense a way as anything in _The Art of the
Fugue_ does, and _The Art of the Fugue_ is my favorite Bach work.
However, there are also things such as Variations 28 and 29, which are as
capricious and silly and dull and as balcony-pleasing as anything he
wrote....  As a piece, as a concept, I don't really think it quite works.'
Since Roddy assumed that the readers of _People_ magazine would not be
interested in such things, the secret of Gould's real opinion of _The
Goldberg Variations_ went with him to the grave."

=====

Incidentally, my own favorite Bach work is also the _Art of
Fugue_...wonderful to listen to, but infinitely more rewarding to play.
The experience of the music going through one's fingers, and the hard
preparatory work required to get it there, is indescribably amazing.  I'd
encourage anyone who plays any sort of keyboard: work on this, at whatever
level you can, it's worth it!

Another astonishing musical universe is Mozart's sonata in E minor for
piano and violin, K304.  I've listened to it since I was about eight years
old, but it's only in the past few weeks that I've begun to realize it
really has just about everything I care about, musically.  Half a dozen
different recordings all bring out remarkably different things.  The music
has deep complexity but an utterly direct and simple surface, an
astoundingly lucid texture, and it goes just about anywhere.  There is
conversation (like in a fugue), there is cooperation, there is dissent,
there is dance, there is canon, there is improvisation, there is liquid
melody, there is harmonic balance and plenty of surprise, there is a sense
of phrases growing organically out of one another, there is balanced
repetition, there is impeccable counterpoint, there is a balance of
learnedness and easy flow, there is passion, there is serene repose, there
are rhythmic subtleties, there are color shifts, there is humor, there is
sorrow, there is joy.  I could probably list another several dozen
aspects.  There is life.  It's a universe.  A universe in under 15
minutes, a mere 380 bars of music, in two perfectly matched movements!
It is governed by logical principles but not wholly defined or limited by
them.  And on the page it all looks so straightforward, but the music
seems to be infinitely varied at each fresh perspective on it.  Wow.  Am I
imagining this?  (And I learned just a few minutes ago that it's the
*only* instrumental composition by Mozart in E minor!  Another surprise!)

=====

p.s. Jean-Christophe and anyone else, have you seen the film "Pi: Faith in
Chaos"?  It's about number, pattern, beauty, meaning, rationality,
irrationality, and the unpredictable workings of the mind.  A character
goes to (and beyond) the edge of insanity in his obsessions with pattern.
And bugs cause the necessary leaps of illogic, of disorder, that make
everything come together.  Fascinating.  I've watched it at least three or
four times.  Once was with a buddy who's a math professor, and we kept
stopping the tape to discuss tangents of mathematical theories!  The
subtitle: is it about one's own faith being thrown into chaos?  Or is it
about one's faith being *in* the beauties and complexities of chaos?  I
think the film is rich enough to sustain both interpretations....  (And
it's as much about Phi, the golden ratio, as about Pi.)


Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
home: http://i.am/bpl  or  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
CD's: http://listen.to/bpl or http://www.mp3.com/bpl

"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only sparks
from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot