[f_minor] Gould and Rachmaninoff

[Houpt, Fred]

Yeah, I have heard the Chopin, which is uploaded to You Tube and it is
freakish.  When GG was out to disassemble the architecture of music he
thought over-rated, he did a Chopin and the rest is history.  He could
have just left well enough alone and said, no, I have not changed my
mind. Chopin was a minor composer of miniatures, not worthy of the
praise.  But no, that would not hold.  He had to embarrass himself and
put the music on acid.  

Fred (no, I never did drop acid, but I can imagine....) 

-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Lehman [mailto:bpl at umich.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 3:50 PM
To: Houpt, Fred
Cc: Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
Subject: Re: [f_minor] Gould and Rachmaninoff

On 7/15/2010 1:13 PM, Houpt, Fred wrote:
> Has anyone listened to this one?
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Gould-Mendelssohn-Scriabin-Prokofiev/dp/B0
> 00
> 0028NQ/ref=pd_sim_m_2
>
> He recorded Mendelssohn? Wha???? News to me

I have the earlier releases of that Mendelssohn and Chopin, when they
were Music & Arts CDs (that had to get withdrawn when the estate and
Sony got uppity).  The Mendelssohn struck me as OK but not really
special or memorable.

The Chopin, on the other hand, was more bizarre than anyone could
rightly expect, even for Gould.  Tempo and dynamics flattened out. 
First movement "Allegro maestoso" slow, and not really resembling
Allegro.  Left-hand figurations as noisy as he did in some of the
Mozart.  I have it on right now, for weird old times' sake.

Sub-par sound for 1970, too...and some tape unsteadiness.  Did the Sony
issue fix any of that?


Brad Lehman
_______________________________________________________________________

This e-mail may be privileged and/or confidential, and the sender does not waive
any related rights and obligations. Any distribution, use or copying of this e-mail or the information
it contains by other than an intended recipient is unauthorized.
If you received this e-mail in error, please advise me (by return e-mail or otherwise) immediately.

Ce courriel peut contenir des renseignements protégés et confidentiels.
L’expéditeur ne renonce pas aux droits et obligations qui s’y rapportent.
Toute diffusion, utilisation ou copie de ce courriel ou des renseignements qu’il contient
par une personne autre que le destinataire désigné est interdite.
Si vous recevez ce courriel par erreur, veuillez m’en aviser immédiatement, 
par retour de courriel ou par un autre moyen.