Coming up May 30-31, 24 hours of Glenn Gould broadcast by WHRB in
Cambridge, MA, at 95.3 FM in Boston, and streamed live on the
internet. Here's the website and the playlist:
http://www.whrb.org/
Thursday, May 30
8:00 pm THE GLENN GOULD ORGY
The most intriguing of the generation of post-war North American
pianists, the Canadian Glenn Gould (1932-1982) has not lost any of
his media appeal even today, twenty years after his death. In this
orgy we will look at the fascinating career of Gould, from his 1955
recording of Bach?s Goldberg Variations that forever tied him to the
piece (and it to him) through his much-discussed retirement from the
concert stage at the age of thirty-one, and into the projects of his
later years that began to take him away from the piano and into
other channels to explore his obsession with media, plus his
conducting, radio documentaries, and more.
Times listed below are only approximate.
Early Recordings and Concerts
Bach: Goldberg Variations, S. 988 (Sony, 1955)
Beethoven: Sonata No. 31 in A-flat, Op. 110 (Sony, 1957)
Bach: Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in d, S. 1052; Bernstein, New York
Philharmonic Orchestra (Sony, 1957)
Brahms: Piano Quintet in f, Op. 34; Montreal String Quartet (Sony, 1957)
Bach: Partita No. 5 in G, S. 829 (Sony, 1957)
Bach: Partita No. 6 in e, S. 830 (Sony, 1957)
Schoenberg: Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11 (CBC Records, 1952)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 19; Slovák, Academic
Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Conservatory (Sony, 1957)
Berg: Sonata, Op. 1 (Chant du Monde, 1957)
Bach: Goldberg Variations, S. 988: Nos. 3, 18, 9, 24, 10, 30 (Chant
du Monde, 1957)
Friday, May 31
midnight THE GLENN GOULD ORGY CONTINUES
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in d, Op. 15; Bernstein, New York
Philharmonic Orchestra (Sony, 1962)
1:00 am Into the Studio
Haydn: Sonata in E flat, H. XVI:49 (Philips, 1958)
Bach: The Well Tempered Clavier, Book I, Nos. 1-8, S. 846-853 (Sony, 1962)
Schoenberg: Piano Concerto; Craft, CBC Symphony Orchestra (Sony, 1961)
Bach: The Art of the Fugue, S. 1080, Contrapuncti I-IX (performed on
the organ) (Sony , 1962)
3:00 am
Bach: The Well Tempered Clavier, Book I, Nos. 9-16, S. 854-861 (Sony, 1963)
Gould: A Glenn Gould Fantasy; Gould, Pacsu (Sony, 1980)
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, Nos. 17-24, S. 862-869 (Sony, 1965)
Strauss: Ophelia-Lieder Op. 67; Schwarzkopf (Sony, 1966)
Schoenberg: Das Buch der hängenden Garten, Op. 15; Vanni (Sony, 1966)
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, Nos. 1-8, S. 870-877 (Sony, 1967)
7:00 am
Prokofiev: Sonata No. 7 in B-flat, Op. 83 (Sony, 1967)
Schoenberg: Suite for Piano, Op. 25 (CBS LP, 1967)
Beethoven: Sonata No. 29 in B-flat, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier" (Sony, 1967)
Mozart: Sonata No. 6 in D, K. 284 "Dürnitz" (Sony, 1968)
Gibbons: Fantasy in C; Allemande (Italian Ground); "Lord of
Salisbury" Pavan and Galliard (Philips, 1968)
Bach, C.P.E.: Württemberg Sonata No. 1 in a, Wq. 49 (Sony, 1968)
Scarlatti: Sonatas: in D, K.430; in d, K. 9; in G, K. 13 (Sony, 1968)
Beethoven: Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp, Op. 78, "À Thérèse" (Sony, 1968)
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 47; Juilliard Quartet (Sony, 1968)
Bach: The Well Tempered Clavier, Book II, Nos. 9-16, S. 878-885 (Sony, 1969)
Scriabin: Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp, Op. 53 (Sony, 1970)
10:30 am
Mozart: Sonata No. 11 in A, K. 331 (Sony, 1970)
Grieg: Sonata, Op. 7 (CBS LP, 1971)
Bach: The Well Tempered Clavier, Book II, Nos. 17-24, S. 886-893 (Sony, 1971)
Bizet: Variations chromatiques (de concert) (Philips, 1971)
Byrd: Hughe Ashton?s Ground; Sellinger?s Round (Philips, 1971)
Bach: French Suite No. 5 in G, S. 816 (Sony, 1971)
Bach: French Suite No. 6 in E, S. 817 (Sony, 1971)
1:00 pm Gould the Composer
Two Pieces for Piano; Naoumoff (Sony, c. 1951)
String Quartet, Op.1; Monsaingeon, Apap, Caussé, Meunier (Sony, 1955)
"So You want to Write a Fugue?"; Golschmann, Benson-Guy, Darian,
Bressler, Gramm, Juilliard Quartet (Sony, 1963)
Radio Documentary excerpts: The Idea of North, The Latecomers, The
Quiet in the Land (1967)
2:30 pm The Last Decade
Hindemith: Sonata No. 2 (Sony, 1973)
Wagner (trans. Gould): Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Sony, 1973)
Beethoven: Six Bagatelles, Op. 126 (Sony, 1974)
Bach: English Suite No. 4 in F, S. 809 (Sony, 1976)
Bach: English Suite No. 5 in e, S. 810 (Sony, 1976)
Bach: English Suite No. 6 in d, S. 811 (Sony, 1976)
Sibelius: Kyllikki, Three Lyric pieces for Piano, Op. 41 (Columbia LP, 1976)
Bach: Preludes and Fugues (Sony, 1979)
5:30 pm
Strauss: Five Piano Pieces, Op. 3 (Philips, 1979)
Bach: The Art of the Fugue, S. 1080: Contrapunctus XIV (Fuga a 3
soggetti) (Sony, 1981)
Brahms: Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 (Sony, 1982)
Wagner: Siegfried Idyll (original version for 13 instrumentalists);
Gould, Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Sony, 1982)
Bach: Goldberg Variations, S. 988 (CBS, 1981)
What is a WHRB Orgy®?
Legend has it that the WHRB Orgy® tradition began over fifty-five
years ago, in the Spring of 1943. At that time, it is said that one
Harvard student, then a staff member of WHRB, returned to the
station after a particularly difficult exam and played all of
Beethoven's nine symphonies consecutively to celebrate the end of a
long, hard term of studying. The idea caught on, and soon the orgy
concept was expanded to include live Jazz and Rock Orgies, as well
as a wide variety of recorded music.
The Orgy® tradition lives on even today at WHRB. Each January and
May, during the Reading and Exam Periods of Harvard College, WHRB
presents marathon-style musical programs devoted to a single
composer, performer, genre, or subject. The New York Times calls
them "idealistic and interesting," adding, "the WHRB Orgies
represent a triumph of musical research, imagination, and passion."