Glenn Gould

[Herman]

Glenn Gould: in the studio

When we spoke to Steve Reich about his admiration for Gould [...] For our special feature we spoke to Clark about how she felt about Gould's reverence for her recordings.

Who is the "we" here?

You can hear some of Gould's documentary 'The Search for Petula Clark' below. In this documentary Gould is surprisingly critical of The Beatles, describing them thus: 'Theirs is a happy, cocky, belligerently resourceless brand of harmonic primitivism'.

calling The Beatles "resourceless" says it all, doesn't it?

[Karl Henning]

Where Petula Clark comes across to great advantage in comparison to Bach ROFLMAO

[Herman]

So you're going to post this chain of clips every week, just so we don't forget to what lengths GG took his narcissism  -  at least that's how I look at his savouring his "delicious" (or whatever the word is) playing.

There's no telling but it's not out of the question I would like Gould better if I wasn't aware of the way he acts.

On the other hand, many people would like to be just as self-indulgent, which may be why he's their hero.

[Mandryka]

Is there a Gould discography, with some indication of dates of recordings?
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What do you think of his Mendelssohn?

[Mandryka]

Here friend ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recordings_by_Glenn_Gould

But that's just hopeless James, there are too many omissions. No Mendelssohn,Chopin, Ghost sonata, early Beethoven, live Mozart from Salzburg, live Prokofiev all the stuff from Helsinki, Art of Fugue on piano . . .

That would be a useful project, to construct a proper Gould discography. Between us we must have most of the published audio  recordings. Video recordings may be more of a problem.  I certainly wouldn't mind getting involved in that if anyone feels up to joining me.

The reason I'm interested is that I'm interested in his artistic development.

[Brahmsian]

Hi James,

Have you read "The Glenn Gould Reader"?

I have the book, just haven't got around to reading it yet.

[Opus106]

I've flipped through it and read bits & pieces of it at the local library (which has a robust Gould section) years ago .. but i've never felt the urge to own it.

A whole section on Gould?!

[kishnevi]

Bump  .. the majority of these are out now ..

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The title is reminiscent of an espionage thriller. 

Hmmm, Gould as a master spy.....well, if Jane Austen can be turned into a mystery story detective....

[Opus106]

Gould talks about Richter

http://www.youtube.com/v/Q1iUdM5k5Hc

[Mandryka]

Gould talks about Richter

http://www.youtube.com/v/Q1iUdM5k5Hc

That's interesting, especially Richter's comments on Gould's response. I'm not sure I understand it at all, but it's interesting.

By the way I played Gould's record of the Schumann Piano Quartet the other day It was extremely clear and lively, but somehow I thought it was cold. Maybe I'll think differently next time I play it, but I ended up playing Le Sage's instead and enjoying that much more.

[George]

Does anyone know why there was no 70th Anniversary Edition of Gould's WTC?

I have 70th Anniversary CDs for both Goldbergs, the Partitas, English and French Suites, WTC, Keyboard Concertos, Art of Fugue, Toccatas, Italian Concerto and the Inventions.

Is that it for his studio recorded Bach?

[kishnevi]

Does anyone know why there was no 70th Anniversary Edition of Gould's WTC?

I have 70th Anniversary CDs for both Goldbergs, the Partitas, English and French Suites, WTC, Keyboard Concertos, Art of Fugue, Toccatas, Italian Concerto and the Inventions.

Is that it for his studio recorded Bach?

There's a couple of batches of smaller works (preludes, fugues and fughettas,  the Chromatic Fantasy, the Concerto after Marcello, the Fugues after Albinoni, the Aria Variata),   which Sony's re-issue factory put out in a couple of different formats. If you have the series I think you do,  most of them are on the same CD as the Italian Concerto, and one small batch is on the CD of Partitas 4-6.   But there are a couple of others which I have on this CD (which annoyingly contains the Chromatic Fantasy and some of the others as bonus tracks)
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But other than that, I know of no studio recordings.

[George]

Thanks, Jeffrey!

[George]

Has anyone compared the latest re-issues (or perhaps they are remasters?) of Glenn Gould's CDs that have come out in the last few years? I am curious if they are a straight reissue or if they have been remastered? And if they have been remastered, did they do a good job?

[Que]

Has anyone compared the latest re-issues (or perhaps they are remasters?) of Glenn Gould's CDs that have come out in the last few years? I am curious if they are a straight reissue or if they have been remastered? And if they have been remastered, did they do a good job?

I always assumed they are still (re)using the remasterings made for the Glen Gould Edition in the mid-90s? (The ones with the white covers)

Those were pretty fine IMO, with something called "super bit mapping" - a technical tweak that actually seemed to improve quality instead of making things worse....

Q

[George]

I always assumed they are still (re)using the remasterings made for the Glen Gould Edition in the mid-90s? (The ones with the white covers)

Those were pretty fine IMO, with something called "super bit mapping" - a technical tweak that actually seemed to improve quality instead of making things worse....

Q

Hi Q,

Yes, I guess I would assume the same, but since reissues in some of their other series were remastered (and poorly done) I was hoping someone could confirm. The new ones seem a lot cheaper, so I'd prefer to get those for my missing Gould discs.

[kishnevi]

Your question finally clicked in my head this morning. You're referring to the "Glenn Gould plays...." series, correct?  Grabbing the first one I find from the ones I ordered (Haydn: 6 Late Piano Sonatas), it's not immediately apparent.  Gives the original recording dates (1980-81 for all but one sonata recorded in 1958),  says that mastering was done by "Philipp Nedel, Martin Kistner, b-sharp", says it consists of previously released material (meaning no remastering now?), and gives only one copyright date: 2012 (which usually indicates a new remastering?).

If you (or anyone else) has a previous  issue of this recording,  we can see if Messrs. Nedel and Kistner, and their C natural in disguise,  were involved in those, and decide the question.

[George]

Your question finally clicked in my head this morning. You're referring to the "Glenn Gould plays...." series, correct?  Grabbing the first one I find from the ones I ordered (Haydn: 6 Late Piano Sonatas).... gives only one copyright date: 2012 (which usually indicates a new remastering?).

Indeed! Thanks!

[Sean]

Yes, a fine thread. Chiming in here only to register my enthusiasm, in recent years having heard particularly his 48 and both Goldbergs many many times; I also get closer to his philosophy of intellectual abstraction nudging out melodic forms, at least of the closed variety.

You're right James about the 1981, the huge inwardness and sophistication is a match for the greatest achievements of the likes of Gilels or Schnabel.

[DavidA]

My Mitropolous Conducting Mahler set arrived today, and in it, in lieu of liner notes, was a catalogue of West Hill Radio Archives.



Apparently they don't sell directly in the US for copyright reasons, but it's available on AmazonUK and other places

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Glen-Gould-Concert/dp/B004R7Z3L8/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1344132664&sr=1-1

The catalogue includes a complete listing of the perfomances included; if any one wants the list,  PM me.

I have this. A very interesting set and a must for GG fans. But the recordings are somewhat primitive.