# Gould's Beethoven



## Shane

I am wondering, what do others here think of Glenn Gould's Beethoven? In particular, the Piano Sonatas?
I absolutely adore the Beethoven Piano Sonatas and have a variety of recordings of them (highlights including Goode and Richter). A while back I purchased the 2 multi-disc sets that were released in the CBS Masterworks series that collect Gould's Beethoven Sonatas.
At first glance, it looks like it will be an amazing set, as it includes a majority of the Sonatas. I am a Gould fan and, like many others, I consider his Bach to be perfection. But, upon listening to his Beethoven Sonatas, I immediately became infuriated before even finishing the first movement of the first Sonata. Gould excercises his eccentric quirkiness all over this music, and I had to stop listening to it. I bounced around a bit, sampling other sonatas, only to find him rushing crucial moments and was left with an overall feeling of blasphemy and violation in respect to these highly regarded works.
So, I am just wondering what other's who have heard Gould's Beethoven think of his interpretations?


----------



## Topaz

The only Gould I have ever listened to was just now on the Amazon website sampling Beethoven Piano Sonata No 1. I wasn't impressed. It sounded poor compared with my Stephen Kovacevich version, but it may have something to do with the low bit rate they use on Amazon.


----------



## Hexameron

The only Beethoven I've heard from Gould is the Hammerklavier, the Op. 109, and No. 17 'Tempest'. I've also heard his Bach and Chopin and some others that I can't remember. After hearing his Beethoven, though, I've come to the conclusion that his playing style is just not compatible with Beethoven's music. It seems like Gould doesn't wish to play them as Beethoven would, but *only* as _he_ would. His interpretations are not superior in any way to most of the other pianists I've heard. And that's where some of the Gould fanatics are mistaken. Sometimes they treat him like some great pianistic Messiah who illuminated the intricacies and spirituality of Bach and even Beethoven. I disagree there. Brendel, Perahia, Arrau, and even Schnabel are just as competent and powerful in their execution of Beethoven and/or Bach.

Gould's technique is indeed mindboggling and his enthusiasm for the music is astounding; if you ever watch him play you can tell he's completely possessed and mesmerized by the music. But whenever I listen to his Beethoven sonatas, I get the impression that Gould is incapable of tapping into the great composer's psyche or feelings. Additionally, his Beethoven is undermined with a reckless use of staccato and lightness of touch, when, if one reads about how Beethoven played his own sonatas, you get the feeling that the opposite should be applied. It's not Chopin legato, but nor is it harpsichordian plunking as Gould's fleet fingers seem more comfortable with. I agree with Topaz about Kovacevich. I think he's a great interpreter of Beethoven; he executes both Beethoven's anger and nobility of thought while Gould instead prefers intellectualism. It's also my opinion that Gould plays with the same mannerisms, dynamics and tempo for every composer. That is, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Webern are played with little or no diversity, a major faux pas in my view. Bach and Chopin are not the same... but Gould treats them as such.


----------



## oisfetz

IMHO, Gould was a psycho,and he played like it. Poor 0gdon end mad, but never played as a mad man. Gould did.


----------



## Shane

OK, I feel more "normal" knowing I'm not the only one that feels that way about Gould. 

As I said, I think his Bach playing is magnificent, and I hold him in very high regard for that. But I also think he was a "one-trick pony" and should have stayed away from other composers.


----------



## Topaz

Try Solomon for Beethoven PSons 29/32. Excellent.


----------



## Manuel

Topaz said:


> *The only Gould I have ever listened to* was just now on the Amazon website sampling Beethoven Piano Sonata No 1. I wasn't impressed.


Really? Go and get more before we send you to the detention room. 

His Bach is excellent. He wasn't about technique only, but he knew what to do with it. And his labour in Bach's voicing is magnificent, you can clearly distinguish each melody.



> So, I am just wondering what other's who have heard Gould's Beethoven think of his interpretations?


His introduction to the Emperor (with Ancerl) sounds a bit like a caricature. And I partially agree his clean interpretations may have not matched Beethoven's sound.

His Goldberg, WTK and English suites are a must.
Also, try to get a copy of him playing Liszt's transcription of Beethoven symphonies.


----------



## Shane

Manuel said:


> Also, try to get a copy of him playing Liszt's transcription of Beethoven symphonies.


I do have his recording of Liszt's transcriptions of the 5th and part of the 6th. That is actually not too bad. Although I think some of my enjoyment comes from the novelty of hearing these classic works performed solely on piano.


----------



## Hexameron

Manuel said:


> Also, try to get a copy of him playing Liszt's transcription of Beethoven symphonies.


Out of all the Beethoven-Liszt out there, I wouldn't recommend this; I'll take Leslie Howard's expensive set long before Gould's. If you're going to experience these transcriptions, then Katsaris and Scherbakov are the masters to go for. Their musicality and interpretation is _vastly_ superior to Gould's. Gould's playing is slow, mechanical, and devoid of passion, not to mention annoying because of his incessant humming. I would point out the horribly weak last movement of Beethoven's 5th. Are you telling me Gould captures Beethoven's triumphant spirit in this robotic and boring excursion? Compare with Scherbakov's ecstatic rendition and I think that Gould disc will be in the trash bin by the end of the week.


----------



## Manuel

Hexameron said:


> Out of all the Beethoven-Liszt out there, I wouldn't recommend this; I'll take Leslie Howard's expensive set long before Gould's. If you're going to experience these transcriptions, then Katsaris and Scherbakov are the masters to go for. Their musicality and interpretation is _vastly_ superior to Gould's. Gould's playing is slow, mechanical, and devoid of passion, not to mention annoying because of his incessant humming. I would point out the horribly weak last movement of Beethoven's 5th. Are you telling me Gould captures Beethoven's triumphant spirit in this robotic and boring excursion? Compare with Scherbakov's ecstatic rendition and I think that Gould disc will be in the trash bin by the end of the week.


I'll take Katsaris to the desert island. But Gould is not surpassed by anyone in the way he manages the polyphony in those works. So with him, you hear each instrument in detail. Rembember in this transcriptions Liszt almost *condensed the orchestra*in the piano.


----------



## Titanium left hand

I agree completely about Gould and Beethoven...he butchered most of the sonatas. I do truly enjoy his performance of :Rondo. Allegro 'PATHETIQUE'...Oddly enough he made his soloist debut peroforming Beethoven's fourth piano concerto at age 14.


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth

GG's disc of the complete Op. 31 Sonatas is an incredibly satisfying recital:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Pia...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1292265166&sr=1-6


----------



## Yoshi

I don't get it, I absolutely love Gould's Beethoven. Maybe the only ones I didn't enjoy as much as the others were his Appassionata and Op.10 no.5, but the rest is lovely. Moonlight, Pathetique, Tempest, Hammerklavier, No.30 Op.109, are just some examples of sonatas which my favourite version is Gould's.

Edit: I forgot to mention the piano concertos, which my favourite recordings are Gould's too.


----------



## Aramis

His first movement of Moonlight sonata sounds like " I'm so embrassed to play this dead horse, I must finish as soon as I can  "


----------



## Webernite

He actually loved the Moonlight Sonata. He called it a masterpiece. But everyone knows the first movement is always played too slowly: it's just that he was the only pianist with the gall to play it at a reasonable speed. (Don't overlook, either, that Gould grew up listening to recordings of Schnabel, who also happens play the first movement quite fast.)


----------



## Yoshi

Webernite said:


> He actually loved the Moonlight Sonata. He called it a masterpiece. But everyone knows the first movement is always played too slowly: it's just that he was the only pianist with the gall to play it at a reasonable speed. (Don't overlook, either, that Gould grew up listening to recordings of Schnabel, who also happens play the first movement quite fast.)


You are absolutely right. That was actualy one of the times that he played a piece as it was supposed to be.


----------



## Webernite

Besides, I don't know why people get so angry even when Gould does deviate from the score. The most popular Beethoven video on Youtube is the Moonlight Sonata _with synthetic violins dubbed in_, and yet some people spend their time frothing at the mouth about how Gould's staccato is morally wrong.


----------



## Yoshi

Webernite said:


> Besides, I don't know why people get so angry even when Gould does deviate from the score. The most popular Beethoven video on Youtube is the Moonlight Sonata _with synthetic violins dubbed in_, and yet some people spend their time frothing at the mouth about how Gould's staccato is morally wrong.


That recording is just dreadful. It also has some wrong notes from what I remember, and still it's the most popular version on youtube. I just don't get it...


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth

Jan said:


> _I absolutely love Gould's Beethoven. Maybe...his Appassionata_.


It took me a few auditions to 'get' *Gould's Appassionata*.

You have to really just slow down and stop your mind from anticipating the notes (when one is used to another reading).

If you completely suspend all preconceptions, with a few hearings Gould's Appassionata *totally makes sense*.

(His Hammerklavier, too!)

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Pia...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1292270834&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Pia...=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1292270896&sr=1-7


----------



## Yoshi

Sebastien Melmoth said:


> It took me a few auditions to 'get' *Gould's Appassionata*.
> 
> You have to really just slow down and stop your mind from anticipating the notes (when one is used to another reading).
> 
> If you completely suspend all preconceptions, with a few hearings Gould's Appassionata *totally makes sense*.
> 
> (His Hammerklavier, too!)
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Pia...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1292270834&sr=1-2
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Pia...=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1292270896&sr=1-7


I did listen to it alot of times, because it was pretty useful when I was learning that piece. The fact that it was so slow helped me to understand certain rhythmic patterns by ear. It's not that I don't get it, I just prefer a faster version.


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth

Jan: nice avatar!

Btw, in the US, PBS is supposed to broadcast the newest film on Gould--Genius Within: Inner Life of Glenn Gould (2010)--on its American Master's programme.

I haven't seen it; awaiting with eager anticipation...

http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Within...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1289151977&sr=1-1


----------



## Yoshi

Sebastien Melmoth said:


> Jan: nice avatar!
> 
> Btw, in the US, PBS is supposed to broadcast the newest film on Gould--Genius Within: Inner Life of Glenn Gould (2010)--on its American Master's programme.
> 
> I haven't seen it; awaiting with eager anticipation...
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Genius-Within...ef=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1289151977&sr=1-1


Thank you! I like your avatar aswell 

Unfortunately I can't watch it as I'm not from the US...
I cannot wait to see that film, but it's impossible to find anything about Glenn Gould where I live, except a few cds. 
Do you have any idea when there will be a dvd release and where can I order it? I would really love to .


----------



## Lipatti

Andras Schiff mentions in one of his lectures that the triplets which make up the pulse of the entire first movement of the (so-called) Moonlight sonata were inspired by the Commendatore's death scene in Don Giovanni. Makes actually sense if you think about it. Besides, I really can't imagine Beethoven playing that piece in over six minutes like most pianists tend to do.


----------



## Webernite

The Moonlight Sonata also reminds me of this:


----------



## motpasm23

In his own liner notes to the Beethoven Sonatas, doesn't Gould mention that he flat-out dislikes much of Beethoven? I know I've read that he can't stand most Mozart Sonatas, but I remember reading that he hates a lot of Beethoven, too, particularly the Appassionata. I mean, he plays it like he hates just to let you know in case you can't read the English notes. Oddly enough, as others mentioned, he said that to most people's surprise he actually likes the Moonlight. I think you just need to listen to Gould with a grain of salt, regardless of who he's performing. I've always found his interpretations far more fascinating than the standard pianist who just increases the tempo here and adds a little more staccato there.


----------



## Lipatti

One should always take Gould's interpretations with a grain of salt, yes. For one thing, his playing enhances the orchestral qualities of Beethoven's late sonatas, but he constantly skips the repeats, which in some places (like third mvmt of op 109) are there not just for the mere sake of repetition. I think I've read that he actually thought he could understand the meaning and structure behind these works better than Beethoven himself.


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth

Naw--Gould loved Beethoven: in fact, after Bach, Beethoven makes up the largest part of his repertoire. 
However, sometimes GG liked to say moderately provocative things. In this case, he advocated B's early sonatas, while disparaging his middle sonatas. No big deal.

Now, as to repeats: Gould never took them for one reason at least pertaining to modern recording techne--because he believed that repeated audio listening in one's home eliminated the 19th Century need for repeats in live concert performances.

That said, however, it may be true that GG sometimes thought he had an insight into the music which event he original authors didn't have.
--And in a complicated work of genius, this may be true: another genius may see something there that perhaps the original artist put in subconsciously.


----------



## Webernite

He said he had "very mixed feelings" about Beethoven.


----------



## World Violist

I'm listening to the first movement of Gould's "Moonlight" recording now. About bloody time, I've always been sick of these pianists taking it literally half again as slowly and making massive, sickening rubatos...


----------



## Yoshi

I feel the same way when I listen to Gould's Moonlight...

And I agree that it doesn't make sense that he disliked Beethoven. If he did, he probably wouldn't record so many of his pieces.


----------



## motpasm23

Jan said:


> I feel the same way when I listen to Gould's Moonlight...
> 
> And I agree that it doesn't make sense that he disliked Beethoven. If he did, he probably wouldn't record so many of his pieces.


Beethoven sells.


----------



## Yoshi

motpasm23 said:


> Beethoven sells.


Could be. But he always stayed away from composers he didn't like... Liszt for example.


----------



## Webernite

If he were that worried about selling tickets at his concerts, I don't think he would have played things like the Webern Variations so often. In fact, on one occasion he performed them twice in the same concert.


----------



## World Violist

I don't think selling meant anything to him; he was a brilliant artist with a carte-blanche record contract who lived in a very small apartment and hardly went anywhere after his retirement. So there's his money taken care of by the royalties off of the 1955 Goldbergs alone...

Only thing I'm puzzled by is why he never made an all-Gibbons record. If Gibbons was his favorite composer, there's something odd about that.


----------



## Webernite

I seem to recall his favorite works by Gibbons weren't for keyboard.


----------



## motpasm23

World Violist said:


> I don't think selling meant anything to him; he was a brilliant artist with a carte-blanche record contract who lived in a very small apartment and hardly went anywhere after his retirement.


I remember reading somewhere that his contract (at some point) involved him recording Beethoven sonatas. He certainly didn't like some of them, that is obvious from both his playing and his liner notes (Appassionata is the most obvious). Same for Mozart. He recorded the complete Mozart sonatas, and he openly criticizes them in his liner notes. I enjoy the recordings myself, but I think many more artists than you might suspect need to bow to the whims of the record companies every once in a while.


----------



## Josiah

The only Beethoven I have heard Gould play was the Emperor concerto. I was not impressed by his performance of it, but to be honest I haven't heard a performance of the Emperor that sounds quite right to me...


----------



## radiohlite

Josiah said:


> I haven't heard a performance of the Emperor that sounds quite right


only Perahia does it for me.

Gould does some wonderful things with certain sonatas and completely butchers others. but when it works, it's as revelatory as his Bach


----------



## Lipatti

Has anyone heard Gould play any of the Beethoven sonatas live in concert? There is a recording of a Stockholm recital from 1958 on youtube where Gould, among other gems, did opus 110. It's fantastic, and quite different from the studio recording.


----------



## Vaneyes

Mozart and Chopin were his dislikes. Anyway, one for the ages...


----------



## Fugue Meister

I'm on the fence about this one. To me no one touches Gould when it comes to op. 2 no. 3(with special mention for the 2cd movement of which Gould's interpretation is astounding), op. 10 no.s 2 & 3, op. 27 no. 1 & 2, op. 28, op. 31 no. 2, and especially op. 78. (Again and by the sonata #'s 3, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 17, 24) 

On all others I prefer Brendel or Giles. 

However I still find that Gould is my favorite pianist.


----------



## Mandryka

Fugue Meister said:


> I'm on the fence about this one. To me no one touches Gould when it comes to op. 2 no. 3(with special mention for the 2cd movement of which Gould's interpretation is astounding), op. 10 no.s 2 & 3, op. 27 no. 1 & 2, op. 28, op. 31 no. 2, and especially op. 78. (Again and by the sonata #'s 3, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 17, 24)
> 
> On all others I prefer Brendel or Gilels.
> 
> However I still find that Gould is my favorite pianist.


You mean Gould playing the adagio of op 2/3? He comes across to me as not at all cynical -- I mean, you can (I think) hear he cares about the music, he's not just having a laugh.

This is a sonata written by quite a young guy, early 20s (can someone confirm?) And what I like most about the Gould is that even though the tempos are extremely broad (the broadest on record), there's no "spiritual" feeling like you get with Gilels, Richter, Arrau etc. There's a sense of humour in the performance, it's got a twinkle in its eye, it's moody in a young way. He stomps a bit, kicks off, cries, laughs. Beethoven as teenager. Towards the end the music making is so confidential you feel as though you're eavesdropping.

Gould's detached touch is strange, but I get used to it. I wonder why he does it like that here, plays so detached?

This is an interesting performance, thanks for mentioning.


----------



## Fugue Meister

My pleasure, continue to spread it around. I'm a big fan of forcing music down people's throats, glad to see someone who appreciates it.


----------



## PeterF

I have Gould playing Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with Karajan. Also have Gould playing Beethoven's Piano Sonatas No's 5, 6, and 7. I see them , especially the Piano Sonatas, as hearing Beethoven played differently than the more typical way we hear hear this music played.
They are by no means among my favorite versions of this music. There are a number of other pianists who I prefer for Beethoven.

However, when it comes to Bach, Gould is my definite favorite. No one else I have heard comes up to his level when playing Bach.


----------



## Albert7

Anything played by Gould is golden to me.

And his Beethoven is exquisite. I am glad that he was selective about what he wanted to play.
Artists don't need to record everything if they don't want to.


----------



## iskender

I hope this thread is not totally dead (and bear with me for any faux pas, as this is my first post in this forum). Am I missing something about Gould's sonata no. 5. He finishes it in just 2:45 (in contrast to Gilels' 7 mins). The difference cannot be explained simply by the absence of repeats. Moreover, though I havent listened to it with sheet music at hand, the notes esp. at the beginning simply sound different. It sounds like he is performing a different sonata than the one performed by Gilels (or Arrau) did under that title...


----------



## Mandryka

iskender said:


> I hope this thread is not totally dead (and bear with me for any faux pas, as this is my first post in this forum). Am I missing something about Gould's sonata no. 5. He finishes it in just 2:45 (in contrast to Gilels' 7 mins). The difference cannot be explained simply by the absence of repeats. Moreover, though I havent listened to it with sheet music at hand, the notes esp. at the beginning simply sound different. It sounds like he is performing a different sonata than the one performed by Gilels (or Arrau) did under that title...


No, not performing a different sonata. Gould plays the music in a playful way, while Arrau tries to find a bit of old man's wisdom in there.

I enjoyed what Gould does, just because it's so unexpected and IMO this is not an easy movement to make interesting, so thanks for bringing it up. I can't get my head around what Gilels does at all.


----------



## iliasvl

For me Gould isn't only about Bach. I love his beethoven recordings, i ve listened almost to all of them. I recomend these, not so eccentric recordings, to you:

Piano Sonata no 12 (gould received a grammy award for this recording)
Piano concerto 4
Piano Sonata op.110
Eroica variations
32 variations in c minor

And many other recordings which, for me, are great.


----------



## Mandryka

iliasvl said:


> For me Gould isn't only about Bach. I love his beethoven recordings, i ve listened almost to all of them. I recomend these, not so eccentric recordings, to you:
> 
> Piano Sonata no 12 (gould received a grammy award for this recording)
> Piano concerto 4
> Piano Sonata op.110
> Eroica variations
> 32 variations in c minor
> 
> And many other recordings which, for me, are great.


Another one you may enjoy is the op 126 bagatelles. The concerto 4 is ruined by overbearing and vulgar conducting from Leonard Bernstein. I didn't know he won an award for op 26 - I'll listen to it soon. I like what he does with op 28.

By the way there's a live op110 (from Stockholm) which is worth trying to hear I think.


----------



## DavidA

I have Gould's LvB piano sonatas and the variations he recorded. Some of them are electrifying in their intensity but sometimes the manner just becomes plain distorted as in the Appassionata. The problem is that Gould I believe had a mental problem which made him want to control everything his way. He said he didn't like the Appassionata so he played it in a way that no-one else would. Why he recorded it - and the Mozart sonatas - is beyond me. Bucks I suppose. I'm a Gould fan and have the vast majority of his discs but unfortunately he sometimes in trying to be the ultimate iconoclast he overstepped the mark way too much


----------



## iliasvl

oh yes, i forgot the op. 28, his interpretation of it is one of my favorite sonatas by Gould.


----------



## iliasvl

Mandryka said:


> Another one you may enjoy is the op 126 bagatelles. The concerto 4 is ruined by overbearing and vulgar conducting from Leonard Bernstein. I didn't know he won an award for op 26 - I'll listen to it soon. I like what he does with op 28.
> 
> By the way there's a live op110 (from Stockholm) which is worth trying to hear I think.


oh yes, i forgot the op. 28, his interpretation of it is one of my favorite sonatas by Gould.


----------



## Gouldanian

The best GG interpretations of LVB in my opinion are the following four, and in this specific order:

1- The Empror Concerto (youtube it, it'll knock you off your feet)
2- The appassionata
3- The Tempest
4- Sonata no. 8

Those are not just ''acceptable'' GG performances of LVB, they're *exceptional*. For the rest of LVB's work, I agree. Not down GG's alley.


----------



## Thomas Cassidy

*Beethoven opus 31*

I enjoy Gould's interpretation and performance of the Beethoven sonatas opus 31 as well as his recordings of the Beethoven symphonies transcribed for piano. He offers new and unique ideas in a very skilled manner. People get hung up on the way they think the composer would have played these works. Art is not static. I believe Beethoven would have approved of Gould's interpretations of his music. Glenn Gould was an eccentric genius and I, for one, am grateful for his life as an artist.



Yoshi said:


> I don't get it, I absolutely love Gould's Beethoven. Maybe the only ones I didn't enjoy as much as the others were his Appassionata and Op.10 no.5, but the rest is lovely. Moonlight, Pathetique, Tempest, Hammerklavier, No.30 Op.109, are just some examples of sonatas which my favourite version is Gould's.
> 
> Edit: I forgot to mention the piano concertos, which my favourite recordings are Gould's too.


----------



## Thomas Cassidy

1. Beethoven Opus 31 remarkable and excellently performed
2. Beethoven Symphonies transcribed for piano.
3. Beethoven 32 Variations on an Original Theme in C minor
4. Beethoven, Six Variations for Piano in F major op. 34 

these can be enjoyed on youtube. Glenn Gould rest in peace.


----------



## Thomas Cassidy

Sviatoslav Richter once famously remarked, “You know I could play Bach as well as Gould. But do you know why I don’t play as well as he does? Because I would have to work so hard to play like him.”


----------



## Ras

I haven't heard Gould's Beethoven Sonatas but his Emperor Concerto with Leopold Stokowski on Sony/Columbia is my all time favorite - I have heard at least forty recordings.


----------



## EdwardBast

Thomas Cassidy said:


> I believe Beethoven would have approved of Gould's interpretations of his music. Glenn Gould was an eccentric genius and I, for one, am grateful for his life as an artist.


I believe Beethoven would have pummeled Gould with his fists until he was unconscious and bloody. Then Brahms and Prokofiev would have kicked him on the ground.


----------



## Thomas Cassidy

and Six Variations for Piano in F major op. 34


----------



## Merl

DavidA said:


> I have Gould's LvB piano sonatas and the variations he recorded. Some of them are electrifying in their intensity but sometimes the manner just becomes plain distorted as in the Appassionata. The problem is that Gould I believe had a mental problem which made him want to control everything his way. He said he didn't like the Appassionata so he played it in a way that no-one else would. Why he recorded it - and the Mozart sonatas - is beyond me. Bucks I suppose. I'm a Gould fan and have the vast majority of his discs but unfortunately he sometimes in trying to be the ultimate iconoclast he overstepped the mark way too much


That's a fair assessment and sums up perfectly the way I feel about Gould in Beethoven. Sometimes mesmerising, sometimes bizarre but at least always interesting.


----------



## DavidA

Merl said:


> That's a fair assessment and sums up perfectly the way I feel about Gould in Beethoven. Sometimes mesmerising, sometimes bizarre but at least always interesting.


You might be tempted to sometimes wish someone had kicked Gould off his pygmy stool but you'll never be bored! :lol:


----------



## lextune

Thomas Cassidy said:


> Sviatoslav Richter once famously remarked, "You know I could play Bach as well as Gould. But do you know why I don't play as well as he does? Because I would have to work so hard to play like him."


I would like to see the origin of that 'quote'. I googled it and all I got was the quora page you must have got it from. Honestly, I don't buy it.

Here is an actual quote from Richter about Gould from Richter's own notebooks; (page 197 of Monsaingeon's Notebooks & Conversations)

"Gould has found his own approach to Bach and, from this point of view, he deserves his reputation.
It seems to me that his principal merit lies on the level of sonority, a sonority that is exactly what suits Bach best.
But, in my own view, Bach's music demands more depth and austerity, whereas with Gould everything is just a little too brilliant and superficial. Above all, however, he doesn't play all the repeats. and that's something for which I really can't forgive him. It suggests that he doesn't actually love Bach sufficiently."


----------



## Josquin13

Gould's lighter piano touch is well suited to Beethoven. Unlike certain other pianists (such as Evgeny Kissin), Gould doesn't heavily pound on the piano keys in order to convey the emotional intensity of Beethoven's sonatas; a misguided approach that, when it is embraced, tends to overly generalize the wider emotional and psychological range of these scores. Personally, I believe Beethoven cared about his piano touch and sound, and only began to bludgeon piano keys & break pianos later in life, in order to hear himself play through his deafness. As Anton Schindler wrote (& I paraphrase), Beethoven's piano playing sounded wonderful at night, if you were standing on the opposite side of the street across from his house. So, I appreciate that Gould doesn't overly emote or generalize the musical expression in Beethoven's sonatas by relentlessly pounding on the piano keys.

He doesn't exaggerate rubato either. Gould isn't interested in pitting himself against the tempo, by changing it, or pulling things around. He tends to play Beethoven very straight, rhythmically. With the negative that he can occasionally sound too rigid--especially in a slow movement, and the music loses a certain depth of feeling. (Artur Schnabel doesn't make that mistake in Beethoven's slow movements.) However, most of time, Gould trusts Beethoven, and surprisingly, what you get is a Beethoven that is wildly mercurial (despite Gould's rhythmic straightforwardness): which I see as a positive, as it allows for an appropriate sense of fantasy and imagination to emerge within the music.

My impression is that Gould goes wherever his intuition and musical instincts take him. He deeply understands the improvisatory nature of these sonatas, and gives the feeling that they are being created on the spot. I find that fascinating. Even if I don't always agree with what he's doing or think that his interpretation is off the mark, it still remains extremely interesting to hear how Gould sees these scores. (I feel the same way about his late Haydn.) Granted, Gould's Beethoven can be eccentric, at times, & occasionally even border on the perverse, and in those sonatas, I tend to prefer other pianists--such as Rudolf Serkin in the Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2, no. 1, or Mieczyslaw Horszowski in the Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, no. 2, for example:

Gould--Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1: 



Serkin--in the same sonata (opening movement): 




Gould--Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2: 



Horszowski--in the same sonata: 




Other works where Gould's Beethoven misses the mark, in my view, are his Piano Sonatas 13 & 14, Op. 27, nos. 1 & 2. In the famous "Moonlight" sonata, for example, he speeds through the opening movement, and it all sounds a bit rushed: 



. Then in the middle movement, he gets quirky. Gould doesn't seem to have a natural feeling for the music. He likewise speeds through the 3rd movement, where the music again sounds rushed in places, though it's brilliantly played. In contrast, the 3rd movement of the Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-Flat Major, Op. 27, no.1, sounds oddly stilted in Gould's hands, and again, the music doesn't seem to flow naturally: 



. My point being that you just never know what you're going to get next with Gould's Beethoven, one moment he's playing a movement to perfection, with deep insight & musicality, and then in the next he gives you an odd interpretation, only to then rush a finale--it's that kind of experience.

Gould's "Appassionata" sonata is another example of the pianist missing the mark, in my opinion. The first movement is extremely quirky, even bizarre in places. I expect most listeners would agree that it's an odd interpretation. Yet again, it's fascinating to hear how Gould sees this music, even if his interpretation doesn't work all that well. In the 2nd movement, Gould again hinders the flow of the music, with a tendency to heavily slow down. For me, his interpretation sounds a bit lost. Although he redeems himself in the Presto movement, which is better.






I'm not a big fan of Gould's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13, the "Pathétique", either. Although I do appreciate that he doesn't pound the keys in the first movement (unlike some pianists), but keeps a lighter touch throughout. The sonata starts out well: 



. However, for me, Rudolf Serkin has deeper insights into the Adagio cantabile. This is a good example of where Gould's unwillingness to use rubato, his straightforwardness in Beethoven, becomes too rigid & impersonal: 



. I see this movement as an elegy to Mozart, a sad remembrance, a looking back, if you will, and Gould misses some of the tender human feeling that Serkin discovers and brings out in the music. In comparison, Gould sounds superficial. Nor does Gould see that Beethoven is being deliberately "Mozartian" in the 3rd movement, which isn't missed on Serkin. (But then Gould never did really "get" Mozart.) In contrast, Gould rigidly speeds through the movement in a slightly detached, matter of fact manner: 




To hear these differences, here's a link to Serkin's "Pathétique":














Yet I do like Gould's Beethoven--because when it works, it's brilliant. For me (& I see others here too), Gould was at his best in the three Op. 31 Piano Sonatas, nos. 16, 17, & 18, and especially in the no. 2, "The Tempest": which, in my opinion, is one of the great Beethoven performances on record. Here Gould's occasional quirkiness and speediness all work especially well. Indeed the Op. 31 sonatas seem better suited to Gould's 'rubrato free' approach to Beethoven than most of the other sonatas.

At the opening movement of No. 16 in G Major, Op. 31, no. 1, Gould develops a free, almost jazzy feeling. Yes, it's quirky, but it works. It almost sounds like Beethoven had heard ragtime (before it existed) or some other form of popular musical entertainment. That isn't missed on Gould, who has a good time with it. I like that he becomes very playful in the first two movements, having fun with them. The 3rd movement is excellent too--here Gould's playing is full of imagination: 



 .

Gould is even better in the Piano Sonata No. 17, Op. 31, no. 2 "Tempest", where he finds a psychological depth that eludes many other pianists. After re-listening to this sonata, I came away with the distinct impression that Gould was at his best as a pianist when the music most interested and engaged him, & here he sounds meaningfully engaged. My guess is that the "Tempest" is one of the sonatas that Gould most identified with. He finds an unusual depth in the Adagio, for example. While in the Allegretto 3rd movement, Gould's speediness works to great effect. The whole sonata works brilliantly well: 



.

By the way, Gould's earlier live Toronto television performance of "The Tempest" may be even better than his Columbia studio recording: 




Gould's interpretation of the Piano Sonata No. 18, Op. 31, no. 3 "La Chasse" is no less exceptional. Here he intuitively understands and revels in the playful, driven, nervous energy of the sonata, giving it an improvisatory feel. Gould totally gets the maniac, mercurial content of the music--that the music is constantly changing, developing, and being created. This is great Beethoven playing I think. Although, with that said, for my tastes, I do think that Gould could have relaxed a bit more in the 3rd movement, where I don't feel that he finds enough sense of contrast to the 2nd movement. His 3rd movement becomes too much of a continuation of the nervous energy of the 2nd movement, and I don't think that's quite right, as the listener needs a break, and surely Beethoven intended one. In my view, the 3rd movement should be more relaxed and expansive than Gould plays it, especially since the nervous energy again returns in the 4th movement: 




Gould's performance of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 14, no. 2 is exceptional too. I find it a breath of fresh air. He has such an imaginative, insightful take on this sonata. It's wonderful playing, and as with the "Tempest" sonata, shows Gould's Beethoven at its best, in my view:


----------



## EdwardBast

Josquin13 said:


> Gould is even better in the Piano Sonata No. 17, Op. 31, no. 2 "Tempest", where he finds a psychological depth that eludes many other pianists. After re-listening to this sonata, I came away with the distinct impression that Gould was at his best as a pianist when the music most interested and engaged him, & here he sounds meaningfully engaged. My guess is that the "Tempest" is one of the sonatas that Gould most identified with. He finds an unusual depth in the Adagio, for example. While in the Allegretto 3rd movement, Gould's speediness works to great effect. The whole sonata works brilliantly well:
> 
> 
> 
> .
> 
> By the way, Gould's earlier live Toronto television performance of "The Tempest" may be even better than his Columbia studio recording:


This is his best Beethoven? His performance of the finale is abysmal, a bad parody in fact. It sounds idiotic at that tempo. And skipping the repeat is unforgivable - the rhyming of the transition back and the continuation to G minor is an essential structural feature. Such incomprehension is appalling. Was he so lacking in judgment that he couldn't tell he was butchering it?


----------



## Josquin13

EdwardBast writes, "His performance of the finale is abysmal, a bad parody in fact. It sounds idiotic at that tempo"

I don't see it that way. To my ears, it's not a "bad parody"--rather everyone else plays it too slowly! (I'm partly joking) They miss the sense of horses galloping at a brisk pace. I admit Gould may take the 3rd movement a shade too fast. But for me, there's an undeniable nervous, frenetic quality about this music that Gould understands. I hear sounds of hoof beats in the 3rd movement--especially in Clara Haskil's interpretation, so I don't mind it played on the fast side. 

Although I wouldn't disagree with you about his skipping the repeat. 

I'm aware that Gould can be a very eccentric pianist. I've been critical of his Bach & Mozart for years now. So if you don't like his Beethoven, or his "Tempest" Sonata, that's fine with me. I understand. Gould wouldn't be my first, second, or third choice in Beethoven, either. (Is there any Beethoven by Gould that you do especially like?) 

Although maybe it's not such a bad thing for listeners to occasionally be taken out of their comfort zone, and be challenged by an interpretation. I agree that Gould isn't Kempff, Gilels, Richter, Solomon, A. Fischer or Schnabel in Beethoven. But it is possible that if people were to listen to how Gould plays the 3rd movement of the Tempest Sonata on regular basis, other pianists might begin to sound a shade too slow. I can't tell you how many times I've heard music played on period instruments that sounded too fast to me, at first, initially, only to eventually be won over with repeated listening--to the point where my older recordings then began to sound overly slow, even dull.

But I wouldn't disagree that Gould may be a shade too fast here. I just don't think it's by much--not enough to call it a "bad parody", in my view. I think the issue is more that Gould refuses to use virtually any rubato in Beethoven, which can have the effect of making his playing sound somewhat machine-like or inflexible at times, rhythmically. In other words, it's not so much that he's playing too fast--tempo-wise--as it is that he's playing the music with virtually no variance in the tempo, & the combination of the two doesn't always work well.

I'd be curious to now hear what forte pianists do with this 3rd movement, as I wouldn't be surprised if they play it as briskly as Gould does. The older pianos lend themselves to such an interpretation, as they're less resonant & unwieldy than modern grands, & the piano touch is lighter (like Gould's). I'll have to get my Ronald Brautigam set out ...


----------



## fliege

I rather like Gould's Beethoven. I'm not sure exactly why, but I find the way he plays the sonatas to be very accessible. I generally don't like solo piano, but I can listen to Gould's Beethoven. Of his Bach I've only heard the Goldbergs and I've got to say I don't particularly like them. These are difficult pieces for me at the best of time and I feel Gould just makes them even harder. I much prefer Zhu Xiao-Mei. For example, I find the first variation sounds really pedantic in Gould '81 but Zhu makes it live and breath. Gould's Mozart is totally impossible for me to listen to.


----------



## hoodjem

Shane said:


> Gould exercises his eccentric quirkiness all over this music, and I had to stop listening to it. I bounced around a bit, sampling other sonatas, only to find him rushing crucial moments and was left with an overall feeling of blasphemy and violation in respect to these highly regarded works.


EXACTLY!

(I avoid Gould's interpretations of Beethoven like a plague.)


----------



## Guest

Gould's Beethoven doesn't work for me--it's too eccentric. Give me Claudio Arrau, Stephen Bishop, Andrea Lucchesini, Emil Gilels, or Igor Levit any day!


----------



## flamencosketches

88keys said:


> Gould's Beethoven doesn't work for me--it's too eccentric. Give me Claudio Arrau, Stephen Bishop, Andrea Lucchesini, Emil Gilels, or Igor Levit any day!


I don't like Gould playing the Beethoven sonatas, but I really appreciate his recordings of the concerti, especially the 5th "Emperor" concerto, w/ Stokowski and the American Symphony, a great performance.


----------



## Mandryka

See what you make of this


----------



## Reichstag aus LICHT

^^^

Gould's Beethoven is at its best in the C Minor and Eroica Variations. Both works have a certain improvisatorial nature akin to Bach's Goldbergs, in which Gould excelled. I only wish Gould had recorded the Diabelli Variations.


----------



## Mandryka

Some of the bagatelles too came off well I think. The studio and maybe this even more so









What do people make of his op 110? There are at least two recordings, the studio one and this one


----------



## Barbebleu

Mandryka said:


> See what you make of this


I'll go out on a limb here (and remember folks, it's Christmas, so keep the abuse to a minimum please) and say, I love this.  I've always liked Gould's interpretations which, to my ears, reveal something new at each listening. But not to everyone's taste I know.


----------



## starthrower

^^^
I have the CD and I enjoy it very much.


----------



## Josquin13

Clearly, it's an offbeat interpretation, especially when you compare him to Emil Gilels, who excelled at this music, in my opinion: 



. But then that's Gould. I go into it with the expectation that he'll probably have the courage to play the work like no one else. I love his late Haydn sonatas for that reason, because when it works, he's brilliant, and not at all similar to Alfred Brendel in Haydn, for instance (who I also like in Haydn). (Why else buy multiple recordings of a piece of music?) Besides, Gould's pianism deepened towards the end of the life, in my view (& his), and this performance doesn't reflect that change.

But do I need Gould's 32 Variations? No, it's not my cup of tea. I prefer Gilels.


----------



## hoodjem

Rather idiosyncratic.


----------



## Handelian

At its best electrifying. At worst, monstrous!


----------



## Kreisler jr

Gould is usually excentric and rarely an unqualified recommendation. The concertos are far less excentric and i love especially 1 and 2. My favorite solo Beethoven from his hands is the variation disc. also the bagatelles. 
Of the sonatas op. 28 and 31 are among my favourite's. The best of his late sonatas is op.110 but the others have some interest, incl. the very slow op.106. The named sonatas and op.2 are mostly fails for me, op.10 crazy but fascinating, the best probably 10#3. I think I liked op.14 but don't remember details.


----------



## Parley

And its best Glenn Gould’s Beethoven is like hearing Beethoven himself improvising at the piano. At its worst, as in the Appassionata, it is just a distortion. I could never see why he recorded stuff he didn’t like and then felt he had to justify his dislike by distorting it


----------



## EdwardBast

I don't know why, but I just listened to Gould's performance of the Largo e mesto from Op. 10#3. Ugh! During all of the cantabile sections he pounds out the bass line or accompanying chords and buries the melody. His pacing is bad — seems designed to kill any sense of drama. There are hundreds of unsung conservatory students who could do better sight reading.


----------



## Varick

EdwardBast said:


> I believe Beethoven would have pummeled Gould with his fists until he was unconscious and bloody. Then Brahms and Prokofiev would have kicked him on the ground.


I don't know why, but I found this hysterical. Maybe it's the G&T I'm sipping on. Setting aside with musing what the great masters would have done physically with the eccentric Canuck, I believe GG was an idiot savant. I don't think anyone even TOUCHES his Bach, and he fairs well with other Baroque composers (Handel & Scarlatti) but the moment he ventures, into the Classical & particularly the Romantic eras, he's just a disaster. His Emperor Concerto is almost unlistenable. His Chopin Sonata 3 is dreadful and I have successfully managed to collect everything he's done on Bach while avoiding most of his other works. As someone above put it, he is a one trick pony, but what a trick it is (Bach)!

V


----------



## PeterAccettola

I am afraid I am in agreement with you on this point. I absolutely love Glenn Gould playing Bach. To my mind he is a genius in that respect. He takes Bach's score in and profoundly transforms the sound of it, and even the tactile sense of its structure, infusing it with a dance-like quality of energy and exuberance. It can be argued that it fits our 21st century ears, and I am just fine with that. I think Bach himself would approve.
But my feeling as regards his approach to the Beethoven piano sonatas is that the same approach does not seem to work. I am pretty much enthralled with Brendel's set of Beethoven piano sonatas from Decca. I have the boxed set and really love them. His dynamics are palpable and I seem to understand his use of them.
For Bach's keyboard works, Gould denfinately; but for Beethoven, I think Brendel.


----------



## EdwardBast

Varick said:


> I don't know why, but I found this hysterical. Maybe it's the G&T I'm sipping on. Setting aside with musing what the great masters would have done physically with the eccentric Canuck, I believe GG was an idiot savant. I don't think anyone even TOUCHES his Bach, and he fairs well with other Baroque composers (Handel & Scarlatti) but the moment he ventures, into the Classical & particularly the Romantic eras, he's just a disaster. His Emperor Concerto is almost unlistenable. His Chopin Sonata 3 is dreadful and I have successfully managed to collect everything he's done on Bach while avoiding most of his other works. As someone above put it, he is a one trick pony, but what a trick it is (Bach)!
> 
> V


You'll definitely want to avoid his Prokofiev Seventh Sonata, where he couldn't be bothered to memorize the slow movement correctly. He was oblivious to leaving out some of the most crucial melodic notes in the movement.


----------



## Josquin13

Varick writes, " ...the eccentric Canuck, I believe GG was an idiot savant"

I had a late friend who was a close friend of Gould's & knew him well. According to my friend, Gould wasn't an idiot savant. He was highly intelligent, and keenly interested and well versed in many subjects. The talk of his eccentricities also "gets greatly exaggerated", according to my friend (and I gather mostly stems from a period in Gould's life where he was taking drugs in the 1970s). Which is not to say that Gould couldn't occasionally "be strange, even to his closest friends", as I was told he could be.

Granted, Gould's Bach can sometimes be bizarre to anyone that knows how to play this music on a harpsichord. Indeed, harpsichordist Scott Ross once said that Gould didn't understand Bach's music and was so far off the mark that "you'd need a 747 plane to bring him back". But then, Gould freely admitted that he was making "transcriptions" of Bach's music to the piano. (Btw, Landowska admitted the same, in regards to the contraption she played.) So, Gould knew enough about Baroque music and the harpsichord to know that, and admit that he was only making transcriptions. He also disowned his earlier Bach recordings late in life as "the sins of my youth" (in an interview with Tim Page, given after his 2nd Goldberg Variations recording had been released: 



 . Gould sounds so sharp and in good spirits in the Page interview. It's sad to think that he didn't have long to live. I've often wondered if he had come off of valium too abruptly?, and if that might have caused his stroke, which can happen with valium, a popularly prescribed relaxant back in the 1970s.)

Otherwise, in regards to the unusual nature of his interpretations, Gould openly stated that he saw no point in playing any piece of music in the same way that it had already been played and recorded umpteen times before him. So, with each new recording, he strove to find a new & to his mind vital, interesting, & fresh new way of seeing the music. Given how extremely difficult that is to pull off, I think he did so with a remarkable amount of success. Although yes, it doesn't always work, & inevitably he flopped at times. & sometimes he was both insightful and odd within the same piece of music: which wasn't that uncommon with his Beethoven Piano Sonatas, in my view. But when Gould was brilliant all the way through a Beethoven sonata, such as in his Op. 31, nos. 1, 2, & 3 recordings--in my estimation, his Beethoven could be very special: 



.

Even so, I admit that in a fire I'd probably grab Clara Haskil's "Tempest" first: 



 (but am happy to have both recordings in my collection).

Other than his excellent Tempest sonata, the recordings by Gould that get the most playing time on my stereo are: most of all his Six Late Haydn Piano Sonatas for CBS (which I treasure because they are so different from Alfred Brendel's & others): 



, his first & final Bach Goldberg Variations, & Bach Toccatas (which get underrated, IMO). I'll also occasionally play his Schoenberg, and the recordings of Richard Strauss: 



 and Fartein Valen piano sonatas: 



. Oh yes, Gould was also exceptional in the keyboard music of William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons, who was Gould's favorite composer: 



. As for his Brahms, while Michelangeli remains my favorite pianist for Brahms' Four Ballades, I've grown to like Gould's solo Brahms over the decades. Though I wouldn't recommend his Brahms to a newbie, or to anyone only looking to buy only one or two recordings in this repertory.


----------



## Barbebleu

‘Lord, what fools these mortals be!’ Puck to Oberon but it might just as easily be Gould to the rest of the general public, who really could travel many a mile to find anyone with a fraction of Gould’s talent!


----------



## EdwardBast

Barbebleu said:


> 'Lord, what fools these mortals be!' Puck to Oberon but it might just as easily be Gould to the rest of the general public, who really could travel many a mile to find anyone with a fraction of Gould's talent!


In my book, ascribing "talent" to the dead is as faint as praise can get.


----------



## 89Koechel

Varick - (Emperor Concerto) - Is that the one, with Vaclav Talich? I have a video of it, and it's not, really that bad, at all. Of course, it's just the FIRST movement, not the entirety, but it's still interesting, in how Gould sculpts the opening. IMO, of course.


----------



## 89Koechel

Edward Best, and/or Barbebleu - Um, as for talent ... of the DEAD. So, that means that Schnabel, Dame Myra Hess, Gieseking and others are "dead", also, to a modern age, or those who listen in future days? Signed ... maybe slightly-confused.


----------



## Kreisler jr

While I like some of his Beethoven a lot, the Gould recordings besides Bach (and maybe Byrd/Gibbons, I don't know this well enough and it sounds even more strange on modern piano) where I get most clearly the impression that he loves the music, is the late Brahms selection (more than the Ballades) and the late Haydn sonatas. The most affectionately played Beethoven is probably the F major variations op.34 and some of the bagatelles.


----------



## Barbebleu

EdwardBast said:


> In my book, ascribing "talent" to the dead is as faint as praise can get.


And what book would that be?

The last thing I would do is praise Gould faintly. Quite the contrary! Perhaps I should have said genius rather than talent.


----------



## hammeredklavier

EdwardBast said:


> In my book, ascribing "talent" to the dead is as faint as praise can get.


I think this can be said about performers as well:


Jacck said:


> I don't give a damn about conductors. I have not yet understood the adulation they receive. In my mind, the composer is the creator of the music. *Conductor is just a sophisticated gramophone to play the music.*


----------



## EdwardBast

89Koechel said:


> Edward Best, and/or Barbebleu - Um, as for talent ... of the DEAD. So, that means that Schnabel, Dame Myra Hess, Gieseking and others are "dead", also, to a modern age, or those who listen in future days? Signed ... maybe slightly-confused.


What I meant is that one evaluates the dead not on their alleged talent, which is meaningless after their demise, but on what they actually did while alive. Their achievements are recorded or they aren't.



hammeredklavier said:


> I think this can be said about performers as well:


The statement about conductors, with which I disagree, is in no way related to what I said about talent. Conductors are essential interpreters of musical works in the same way instrumentalists are.


----------



## Joseph R 7

Shane said:


> I am wondering, what do others here think of Glenn Gould's Beethoven? In particular, the Piano Sonatas?
> I absolutely adore the Beethoven Piano Sonatas and have a variety of recordings of them (highlights including Goode and Richter). A while back I purchased the 2 multi-disc sets that were released in the CBS Masterworks series that collect Gould's Beethoven Sonatas.
> At first glance, it looks like it will be an amazing set, as it includes a majority of the Sonatas. I am a Gould fan and, like many others, I consider his Bach to be perfection. But, upon listening to his Beethoven Sonatas, I immediately became infuriated before even finishing the first movement of the first Sonata. Gould excercises his eccentric quirkiness all over this music, and I had to stop listening to it. I bounced around a bit, sampling other sonatas, only to find him rushing crucial moments and was left with an overall feeling of blasphemy and violation in respect to these highly regarded works.
> So, I am just wondering what other's who have heard Gould's Beethoven think of his interpretations?


Hi, Gould's interpretation here is delightful, amusing and probably even tongue-in-cheek. How dare he? Well, he did dare. And I am glad he did. His technique is from another world. And surprisingly, perhaps, his playing also brings tremendous emotion to the work. Count me amongst those around the world who love Gould's interpretations. If listeners don't like it, I would say they are really missing out on the offerings of a genius. I think Beethoven, Bach and even Mozart would love his playing.


----------

