# Glenn Gould's String Quartet



## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Wanted to share this with you all, just in case some of you haven't heard it. You can hear him talk a little more about it (what inspired it, its construction etc) in a series of interviews on Youtube called 'At Home with Glenn Gould' which are fascinating and some of the best interviews I've ever heard of a musician.

This quartet's got Schoenberg, Beethoven, Bruckner etc all combined into an unholy brew that I've found complex and fascinating and rather beautiful. Interested to hear your thoughts.






Here are those interviews, with a 26-year old Gould with wisdom and Weltschmerz aplenty.


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

Thanks for this. I like the string quartet (I was unaware that he'd composed one). Seems to have several eclectic influences.

I've always thought that he was an excellent interview subject. There's a video on youtube in which he plays the final movement (the fugue movement) from Hindemith's Piano Sonata 3. Before he plays it, he gives a technical description of the movement with some context about the composer. It's really interesting.


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## SCSL (Apr 7, 2018)

It’s a shame. Sounds like a typical modern string quartet. A nothingburger that probably appeals to musicians who fancy themselves on the cutting edge, but has little appeal to a listener. I really like Gould as a performer. Alas, the days of Composers are long over.

We label things “interesting” when we’ve pushed beauty out of fashion.


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2018)

SCSL said:


> It's a shame. Sounds like a typical modern string quartet. A nothingburger that probably appeals to musicians who fancy themselves on the cutting edge, but has little appeal to a listener. I really like Gould as a performer. Alas, the days of Composers are long over.
> 
> We label things "interesting" when we've pushed beauty out of fashion.


I don't exactly know what you mean by this, but as I understand it this string quartet draws on a lot of the hallmarks of music from the previous century. Gould was not an experienced composer, but experience would come had he lived for longer. I believe that Gould wanted to shift his focus to composing and conducting after he turned 50, but he didn't live much longer after that.

And uhhh it doesn't really sound much like the modern string quartets I listen to. I would be interested in your recommendations for some more modern string quartets from the last few decades so I have a more broader understanding of what you are referring to.


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## Chromatose (Jan 18, 2016)

Yeah I don't know what SCSL means either, I think it's a gem of a quartet and it's in my regular rotation.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I enjoy it, thanks!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

It almost sounds like atonal music w/o ever being atonal.


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

Not an original, but also see:






incredibly beautiful


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