GG: in defense of Gould's Bach

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

I wrote:

>(...) Gould's Bach (as opposed to regular Bach...) was a modern
>concoction through Schoenberg and others, anyway...Bach as seen from the
>future, rather than Bach as a culmination of 17th century music.  Doesn't
>playing Bach on Bach's own terms require a solid grounding in 17th
>century music and techniques (Italian, French, German, ...)?
>Bach-as-seen-from-the-future is fine and enjoyable, it's just something
>quite different.
(...)
>Most people probably think of Gould as a "Bachian," but
>no........Schoenberg groupie through and through.  *That's* why his Bach
>performance style sounds so unlike anyone else's.  Not historical
>keyboard practice at all, but Schoenbergian compositional practice.
>Gould's dream was to be a composer............

Lest anyone take that the wrong way, I add:

Gould's Bach (as opposed to regular Bach) has generated some very good
things in our culture:

- Countless new fans of classical music

- Countless new fans of Bach

- Countless new fans of Gould

- The f_minor list

- A recording contract in which Gould could record pretty much anything
else he wanted to

- Interesting books

- A large estate fund for the humane society


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