Re: GG hit list

[Jim Morrison <jim_morrison@SPRYNET.COM>]

Nice list Brad,

But you forgot the Handel disc!  ;-)

Sounds like you also appreciated the Great Pianists set of a few years ago
that had none of Gould's Bach on it, but did have the Berg, Byrd, Gibbons,
Haydn and a little Scriabin, among others.  Nice compilation, actually.

I'm looking at your list and trying to figure out what *I* would, in my
subjective taste, bump off to make room for the Partitas, Inventions and
Sinfonias, Italian Concert, 2nd English Suite, but I'm not sure what to take
out.  Maybe the Wagner, Beethoven sonatas-but leaving in the Moonlight, and
the later Haydn works but keeping the 1958 recording.

Anyway, nice list, one that  I'm sure you know heavily favors the early to
middle sections of Gould's recorded legacy.

A good disc to burn for yourself is one with the Brahms intermezzi, the
Scriabin, and the Berg sonata on it.  A great moody compilation, something
that can even survive the random play function on your player.

A question comes to mind though, who do you think plays Bach-on-piano better
than Gould? Kind of a trick question, I know, because you'd probably on
average rather hear Bach-on-harpsichord, and perhaps you find Gould is the
best Bach-on-piano player and simply think the list below is even better
than that.  Nevertheless, could you give us an A-list of Bach-on-piano
recordings that you have?  Hewitt?  Perahia?  Zhu? Kapell? Rubsam? Rosen?
Maybe a little something on how those piano players compare to Gould

Thanks,

Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bradley P Lehman" <bpl@UMICH.EDU>
To: <F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2003 2:57 PM
Subject: GG hit list


> Danielle asked:
> >What wld listpersons select as Gould's top 10 best recordings of choice
> >for sheer musicality, interpretational excellence, or whatever other
> >eclectic reasons?
>
> - Salzburg recital 1959: Sweelinck fantasy, Schoenberg suite, Mozart 330,
> Goldberg Var
>
> - Brahms intermezzi
>
> - Schoenberg solo piano works
>
> - Berg sonata
>
> - Beethoven "Moonlight" (sonata 14) and sonatas 30-32, and bagatelles
>
> - Scriabin sonatas and miniatures
>
> - The Byrd/Gibbons album (eccentric but spirited and convincing)
>
> - Haydn sonatas, especially his 1958 recording of #49
>
> - Beethoven/Liszt symphonies 5 & 6
>
> - Gould's own solo piano transcriptions of Wagner
>
>
> And yes, I left out all his Bach (except the amazing Goldbergs from
> Salzburg) deliberately, because I think all the above are better.  High
> points of his Bach are the partitas, 1955 Goldberg Var, and some of the
> WTC.
>
> The Beethoven concertos 1, 2, and 4 almost made my top ten; so did the
> Prokofiev sonata 7 and some of the Hindemith...
>
>
> 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
>