RE: GG: [Bach-List]

[Cynthia K Harris <ckh0003@jove.acs.unt.edu>]

On 20 Apr 1998, David B. Klein wrote:

> Gould admitted in interviews that he was defacing the music, and that he
> didn't respect Mozart as a composer. No composer suffered as badly at
> Gould's hands as did Mozart. For his part, Gould should perhaps be
> remembered for his Bach, and can at best be forgiven for his sins against
> Mozart.

My calendar, "Classical Music" from the Library of Congress features Gould
in July.  A quote from the text: "At the heart of both his wide-ranging
thought and his vast artistic accomplishment was a view of the performer
as an essentially creative, rather than re-creative force".

I love the way they expressed it.

As I've written before, I simply couldn't stand the Mozart sonatas until I
heard Gould's recordings.  His irreverant perspective makes them
interesting -- fun!  He said that there's no reason to record something
if you can't (and I could look up the quote but I won't just now) make it
special -- different. 

Every performance/recording I've heard of the WAM sonatas is different in
some way, but only Gould's recordings actually sound like he was having a
good time with them -- sometimes naughty fun.

Maybe I love Gould's recordings so much because I listen to music for
pleasure -- and I benefit from the energy he put into them.  And I
wouldn't care if he didn't even come close to following the score.  It
sounds wonderful to me.

GG didn't really think there was anything to virtuosic piano playing --
and I'd guess that he felt that his contribution was in his realization of
the music -- not in reproducing, note for note, what the composer wrote.
How BORING.

Cyndie....