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"A State of Wonder" - A Review
Title: Message
WARNING: This review is light-hearted,
whimsical, and often passionate. If you are easily offended, delete this
message. No animals were harmed in the writing of this review. There is
absolutely NO mention of Dell anywhere on this page.
A State of Wonder - A
Review
(c) Matthew Harding
Well, I'm the first to admit I'm wrong.
Being as opinionated as I am, I occasionally run
into the odd time when I happen to make a mistake, a slight oversight, a
misjudgment or perhaps even a major faux pas (trust me, asking a woman if she's
pregnant when she's not is a mistake you will only make once in your life).
That's the price you pay for having an opinion.
But this time, I made a whopper of a
mistake.
When I first heard Sony was coming out with a 3-CD
compilation of Gould's Goldbergs, I thought to myself, "Here we go again". The
good old Sony Marketing Machine, re-hashing old material for new profit. A
re-release of the '55 Golbergs (again!), coupled with the '81 Goldbergs
(again!), with the only new material being an analytical interview (more of a
scripted play, really) performed by Tim Page with Glenn Gould. Actually, this
interview (entitled "Take Two: The Goldbergs Revisited"), although not available
in North America or Europe, is (or was) available on a Sony CD in Japan, and
thanks to the kind favours of a good friend, I already have a copy of this. So
in other words, nothing new.
So instead of camping outside Sony's headquarters
in a tent the night before the release of this new CD set as I had wanted to do
(my wife nixed that idea), I decided to wait. I'll buy it one day, I thought,
but I'm not going to rush out and throw down some of my hard-earned money for
some recycled CDs. Maybe I'll bid on a secondhand copy on eBay.
But then I listened to it. And, all I can say is,
WOW!!!
The first CD appears to be the re-release of the
'55 version, nothing more. But, if you have never heard it before, this is like
having the Holy Grail of Gould right before you, so I can understand the need to
re-release it. On the off chance that there is a human being on this planet that
hasn't heard the '55 version, here it is in all its virtuosic fire, whirlwind
emotion, and spritual glory. This CD is more than required listening for Gould
fans, it is the genetic building blocks from which the Gould legend was created.
I argue about this with my father all the time, but if there was one disc I
could take with me to another planet, it would be this one.
The second CD is the '81 Goldbergs. But wait! As
has already been mentioned, the original '81 version was recorded and mastered
in Digital. But the engineers astutely recorded the sessions also on analog
tape, and this version is re-mastered from these tapes. And the difference is
phenomenal. The sound of the infamous Yamaha is now smoother and more mellow,
evoking pleasant feelings of the Count himself playing away wistfully in the
background on a cold winter's night, warming himself by the fire of Bach's
phenomenal genius. Like a 25-year old Burgundy that was discovered in the cellar
and opened for the first time, this CD is amazing and new, yet still somehow
comfortably familiar with a lingering aftertaste that you've come to love. As
surely as you would savour the Burgundy and make it last, swishing it around
your mouth until the very last drop, you will love this new release of the '81
Goldbergs.
Then, we have the third CD - the one that makes me
grovel in my humility and offer abject apologies to Sony. It contains two gems,
the afore-mentioned Tim Page interview, and some "out-takes" from the '55
recording session. As most people have probably not heard the Tim Page
interview, allow me to say that as Page seemed to be one of Gould's few real
confidantes, this interview (although of course, entirely scripted and
"produced" by his Gould-ness), is amazing. It not only has really intense, yet
eminently understandable, analytical content (Gould and Page analyzing the
different versions using stopwatch and calculator), but also a real sense of
comfortableness and friendship between these two peers. Page plays the foil to
Gould's masterminded dialogue admirably, and yet still manages to interject his
own unique viewpoints. And for those of us that like the actor in Gould, he does
have a little fun with "Sir John", the film actor who never actually goes to see
his own pictures, don't you know. Lots of fun.
And finally, the '55 session out-takes. This offers
an absolutely fascinating insight into the persona that is Gould, who, even at
23, was so eminently in control of the recording session. There are several
practice run-throughs of the some of the variations (usually at an even faster
pace than the final recorded product!), one out-take where Gould plays only the
left hand of a variation to test the keyboard, and several minutes of playful
banter where Gould lectures the unsuspecting producer.
And then the diamond in the rough, the story I had
heard rumours about but never actually heard, the "piece de resistance" of this
set: Glenn Gould's own words ringing out... "By the way, I have a quodlibet of
my own, that came to me in the bathtub the other day...". And then he proceeds
to play his own specially modulated rendition of God Save the Queen melting into
the Star Spangled Banner ("One of these times I'm going to be invited to perform
a concert on the 4th of July, I'm sure"). What else can I say, other than this
is a brilliant insight into the brilliant mind that is Glenn Gould.
So to Sony: I apologize. No, I do better than that,
I beg your forgiveness and throw myself at your kindness and mercy. And oh, by
the way, if you have any other out-takes of any other recording sessions, please
release them. I'm desperate - I'll take anything ("Glenn Gould brushing his
teeth at Lake Simcoe - take one").
I should make a small admission here - I haven't
actually purchased the set yet, these observations are all from listening. The
price is right, there are probably excellent liner notes (especially if Tim Page
contributed to them), hopefully some decent biographical data, maybe even a
fancy jewel case. Who knows. I don't really care. I can't read the liner notes
in my car, but I can exalt in this CD collection, which in my not so humble
opinion is perfectly suitable for a 70th anniversay celebration, a celebration
of the Legend that is Gould.
This CD set definitely gets 10 hums out of a
possible 10 from me. So to sum up, run out right now (don't walk, run!) and buy
this set - you won't be disappointed.
(And remember, everyone makes mistakes now and
then).
Copyright (c)
Matthew Harding, 2002
All Rights
Reserved