# Gould's 1955 G. Variations



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Just beautiful, I'm listening to them now b/c I feel they mimic the sound quality of what I produce for my own compositions. (Check it out, if you are interested, and see what you think: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Pino/Snowfall%20EP )

It's naked and hollow, not so caught up in fancy editing and smoothing things over, just an Artist and his instrument with magnificent performances.

It's almost interesting that it's easier to decipher technique of a particular artist in this old fashioned way of recording, I feel, it doesn't get drowned out by editing techniques and over use of reverb and such.

Anyways, these are beautiful!


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

If you all would be so kind to post more old recordings of Classical music in a similar vein, I'd appreciate it. The other one I know of is Lili Krauss Mozart Piano Sonata recordings, the old one, I know there are two versions going around, I think one is just remastered of the OG.


I think modern Artists should record in this style. It's more authentic, and that really benefits Classical as a genre in the studio, I believe!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Just beautiful, I'm listening to them now b/c I feel they mimic the sound quality of what I produce for my own compositions. (Check it out, if you are interested, and see what you think: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Pino/Snowfall%20EP )
> 
> It's naked and hollow, not so caught up in fancy editing and smoothing things over, just an Artist and his instrument with magnificent performances.
> 
> ...


It's a short ride in a fast machine.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Mandryka said:


> It's a short ride in a fast machine.


Are you referring to Gould's performances?


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Does anyone know of a "naked" chopin nocturne cycle?


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

This album (Gould in general, but it started here) is what got me on a major classical music kick these past few months. Sparked the chain of events which led to my creating an account here. Completely amazing playing, and the Variations themselves which I was unfamiliar with until recently (I'm a newcomer to the whole tradition of classical music, though I've been a music lover for decades) are amazing. I'm obsessed. I haven't spent as much time with the 1981 recording he did shortly before he died, but I've heard from many people that it's even better. Completely different take, though.



> Does anyone know of a "naked" chopin nocturne cycle?


I'd love to hear something like that if you can find one.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Does anyone know of a "naked" chopin nocturne cycle?











Kjdxsmhshx smhx #


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Are you referring to Gould's performances?


This performance by Gould.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

flamencosketches said:


> ...I haven't spent as much time with the 1981 recording he did shortly before he died, but I've heard from many people that it's even better. Completely different take, though.


I'm not sure "better" or "worse" applies here, but it's definitely a different take.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Just beautiful, I'm listening to them now b/c I feel they mimic the sound quality of what I produce for my own compositions. (Check it out, if you are interested, and see what you think: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Pino/Snowfall%20EP )
> 
> It's naked and hollow, not so caught up in fancy editing and smoothing things over, just an Artist and his instrument with magnificent performances.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure what you're getting at here. The 1955 recording is not hollow (not sure what naked implies) and is fairly typical of solo piano recordings of the beginning of the stereo era and not because of some recording minimalism. Gould didn't use the sustain pedal in this recording which may be part of what you're hearing.

Typical classical solo piano recordings are not 'drowned out by sound enhancement editing techniques and overuse of reverb and such'. Grand pianos can be recorded with more 'natural reverb' or more accurately, more ambience naturally present in the recording venue by using wider microphone placement and/or microphones placed to pick up the ambience present in recording studios, churches and concert halls. Electronically added reverb in classical solo piano recordings would be more the exception than the rule.

Btw, the 1955 recording was not just the old-fashioned way of recording an artist and his music. Gould insisted on multiple retakes, the Aria taking about 21 of them.

The Gould 1955 and 1981 recordings of the Goldberg's were recorded in the same New York Columbia Studio, but the 1981 sounds mildly more reverberant likely due to the fact that Gould used the sustain pedal somewhat (he didn't in the 1955) and the fact that the microphones and placement -presenting a slightly broader stereo image- would have been improved 26 years later.

As I've mentioned in the past, I saw Gould play in one of his last live performances. Came in with mittens and scarf and sat very low with shoulders only slightly above the level of the keyboard.

The 1955:





The 1981:





The 1981 live: An excellent video of Gould's technique. Notice the use of the sustain pedal, though limited:






(Fwiw, I couldn't connect with your Dropbox link. Says it doesn't exist any longer.)


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Just to note, the Gould 1955 Goldbergs were issued on a monophonic (monaural?) LP. The first commercially viable stereo LP was issued in 1957.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

The 1981 Gould's performance, despite, at the beginning, is a little bit slow, is a masterwork. Best phrasing and voicing in Bach, I can't imagine. Genius!!! (and the sound has body and it is worm.)


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I guess if either Gould account achieved such iconic status that many listeners didn't bother with other accounts - there are many many fine accounts of the Goldbergs - then we would be better off without them! They are both great but they are not alone in being great. I've known them and lived with them for decades but there are many accounts I would listen to before either of Gould's. I'm not even sure they are the best thing that Gould did.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

After having listened to Gould's ('55) Variations several dozen times in the past couple months, I'm trying to look into other interpretations so I don't conflate his perhaps unorthodox take on it with the piece itself. I'm a fan of András Schiff's more recent one on ECM, but I still like Gould's the best of the few I've heard. My girlfriend showed me a few old recordings of Maria Yudina playing some of the Variations and they were really good too, but pretty rough audio quality to be honest. 

What are some other interpretations that y'all enjoy?


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

flamencosketches said:


> What are some other interpretations that y'all enjoy?


On piano, Sergey Schepkin, Ekaterina Derzhavina, Evgeny Koroliov.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Angela Hewitt is one I listen to quite often.
Either one.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Jeremy Denk has a really good recording of the Goldbergs. He writes: "The best reason to hate Bach's Goldberg Variations-aside from the obvious reason that everyone asks you all the time which of the two Glenn Gould recordings you prefer-is that everybody loves them. Not a moment goes by when someone doesn't release a new recording, accompanied by breathless press. They're like a trendy bar that (infuriatingly) keeps staying trendy. Yes, I'm suspicious of the Goldbergs' popularity. Classical Music is not really supposed to be that popular. I worried for years that I would be seduced into playing them, and would become like all the others-besotted, cultish-and that is exactly what happened. I have been assimilated into the Goldberg Borg."

The first issue of his Goldbergs includes a video DVD with his variation-by-variation lecture from the keyboard, which I found very enlightening. It's good to get that version if you can find it.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

DaveM said:


> I'm not sure what you're getting at here. The 1955 recording is not hollow (not sure what naked implies) and is fairly typical of solo piano recordings of the beginning of the stereo era and not because of some recording minimalism. Gould didn't use the sustain pedal in this recording which may be part of what you're hearing.
> 
> Typical classical solo piano recordings are not 'drowned out by sound enhancement editing techniques and overuse of reverb and such'. Grand pianos can be recorded with more 'natural reverb' or more accurately, more ambience naturally present in the recording venue by using wider microphone placement and/or microphones placed to pick up the ambience present in recording studios, churches and concert halls. Electronically added reverb in classical solo piano recordings would be more the exception than the rule.
> 
> ...


https://pino2.bandcamp.com/releases


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Mandryka said:


> View attachment 111612
> 
> 
> Kjdxsmhshx smhx #


Close, but I think studio would be ideal. Just a bit cleaner would be nice!


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

I didn't realize that Gould playing Weber op79 from 1951 is on YouTube


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