GG: Triple Fugue, etc.

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

Hi, Andrew:

FWIW, I completely agree with your assessment of the final triple fugue
from Die Kunst der Fuge.  I find it truly awesome;  Gould playing what
was arguably *his* favorite Bach piece with such complete committment
and understanding.  But I'm a late-period Gould fan and some others on the
list clearly are not.  I've listened to a number of versions of the Art of
Fugue and I always seem to come back to Gould.  It's interesting to
compare the first Contrapuntus from the ON THE RECORD/OFF THE RECORD film
(1959?) to the later version from the film/video AN ART OF FUGUE.
I've also heard versions of the the second Contrapunctus by GG that
*swing* very hard....GG emulates Oscar Peterson playing Bach?

I also share your fascination with the Monsaingeon films;  they are
a real treat, even though we all know that they were scripted and
rehearsed and manicured down to the last frame (would GG have had it
any other way?).  It's amazing to see the fingerwork, the seemless
integration of Gould's thought process with his physical interaction
at the keyboard and even the little gestures that he no doubt
rehearsed extensively to make them seem spontaneous.  One example
would be where Gould decides on the E major fugue from Book 2 of the WTC
as an example of great contrapuntal writing, etc.).  He pauses and
then makes the suggestion as if he just thought it up on the spur of
the moment.

There are also moments that are so contrived that they make me
laugh or want to throw something at the screen.  One example would
be that truly gratuitous keying in of Bruno's face in the right
hand, top corner of the screen while GG is finishing the Three-
Part Invention in C major.  Ouch....where did *that* concept come
from??

Hope the chat goes well...I'll have to read up on it later...

jh


On Mon, 22 Sep 1997, Andrew J Hrycyna wrote:

> 
> >I hate the way GG played the final Contrapunctus from the Art of Fugue, 
> >too, as I wrote a few months ago.  It's a creepy trek through GG's mind, 
> >rather than the music of the piece itself. 
> >Bradley Lehman ~ Harrisonburg VA, USA ~ 38.44N+78.87W 
> >bpl@umich.edu ~ http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/ 
>  
> As someone who has recently discovered with pleasure the Monsaigeon/Gould
> films on Bach, I want to take exception with Bradley Lehman's dismissal of
> Gould's performance of the final unfinished Contrapuntus from The Art of
> Fugue.  (I'm assuming he means the performance recorded for the film An
> Art of the Fugue, music recently also issued on CD.  Also: if this is
> digging up an old F-minor thread, I hope people will forgive the
> repetition; I'm a new subscriber). 
>  
> Ok: I love this performance.  Introducing it in the film, Gould discusses
> the way that the Art of Fugue (unlike the WTC) works with a fluid sense of
> key association that harkens back to old Flemish counterpoint and that
> perpetually postpones strong cadences, giving a feeling "of an infinitely
> expanding universe."  For me the performance of the first and third
> sections of this long triple fugue--as well as that of the first
> Contrapunctus, from the same sessions--completely captures this feeling of
> purposeful floating through harmonic space without ever coming to rest. 
> By taking it slow and building carefully controlled climaxes in each
> section, Gould emphasizes this sense of gradual unfolding.  He plays for 5
> minutes in the first section and it almost feels like one elaborate,
> continuous breath.  Gould quotes Schweitzer talking about this music
> as evoking "a still and serious wold without light, in tints of grey." 
> That's praise for someone with GG's color preferences, and it points to
> another aspect of the mood he's after and, I think, creates.  I find it
> dignified and dramatic.  For me, Gould sustains a pace and texture that
> convey the "devotional" quality that he attributes to the music.
>  
> And it's not just monochromatic pianissimo throughout.  He uses a variety
> of articulation and color that highlights the structure of this immensely
> long fugue and brings out the drama of it.  First, he builds
> (pianistically) in each of the three sections to strong dynamic climaxes. 
> That the last fugue breaks off, unfinished, in the middle of one of those
> inevitable-seeming crescendos makes the end of the music that much more
> poignant and intense, to my ears.  Second, he plays--between the first and
> third fugues, with their sustained, choral textures--a middle section with
> stacatto, almost hicuppy articulation.  It's decidedly an instrumental
> rather than vocal articulation, and I must say that at first I found it
> weird--a little unmotivated, even jokey.  But I've come to hear as making
> sense.  I think it's an excellent answer to the good question Gould is
> quoted as asking about this piece: "How do you keep it going?"  How do you
> make an engaging, listenable experience out of this long and potentially
> signpost-less piece?  By giving the middle part a very different texture,
> he highlights the structure and the distinctive properties of that second
> subject.  He introduces variety.  He also makes the transition back to the
> understated quiet of the B-A-C-H fugue's opening that much more dramatic.
>  
> GG says that the music of this Contrapunctus moves him more deeply than
> any other, and I must say that comes intensely through.  I certainly find
> that the performance is consistent with his articulated vision of the
> piece, whatever you might think of that vision.  In short, I don't find
> the performace "creepy" at all, but musically well-conceived and
> emotionally intense. 
>  
> Let me make a confession: Gould's performance of the piece is the only one
> I know.  Manifestly no expert on the Art of Fugue, I'm coming to these
> pieces after years of hearing occasional excerpts and admiring the idea of
> the whole work, but always from afar:  I never knew quite how to listen to
> it, or maybe just didn't have enough patience.  (I certainly can't play it
> through.  My fledgling adult-beginner keyboard abilities are still at the
> Invention level.)  I don't have a complete recording of the Art of Fugue,
> so I have no other performance-- or performance traditions--of the last
> Contrapunctus in my ears. 
>  
> It's Gould who--as in so many other things--has gotten me excited by this
> music.  And (so) I feel a real affection for this performance.
>  
> I wonder how Bradley and others would react to this long-winded defense. 
> I'd be happy to be led to other recordings that give different views of
> this difficult, wonderful music.
>  
> Andrew Hrycyna
> 
>