[f_minor] more on R.Tureck and GG

Mon Aug 9 23:36:13 EDT 2010

I'm not sure how familiar everyone is with Katie Hafner's terrific book "A Romance on Three Legs: GG's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano". It's a must-read for those of you who actually play the piano professionally and a really interesting book for the rest of us. Anyway she describes Tureck literally experiencing a revelation about Bach's music which led to her knowing she "had to create an entirely new technique for playing the piano as a result"; and also that she certainly did some trailblazing in playing the Goldbergs at Juilliard. Hafner does say Tureck was "put out by Gould's achievement" and her Bach became "yesterday's news" when his Goldbergs album made him a star.
I think it's somewhere in a radio interview Tureck very graciously says something to the effect that she's flattered by Gould's praise of her Bach; in another book (sorry I don't remember which at the moment) it's recalled she said more bitterly "he played them the way I did" or close to those words. One has to feel for her.
To return to Katie Hafner's book, she writes about GG's superhuman speed and that "Gould's playing resembled Tureck's, but his tone was more seductive, and his approach, especially in terms of rhythm, was more dynamic...with one recording GG proved that he could play the piano like nobody else in the world".
Personally I find her version very beautiful and other-worldly (is that a word?!) But I find his mesmerizing. Maybe it can rightly be said that without her example, his GVs wouldn't have been the way they were.
That book gets a lot into the mechanics of how pianos were/are made and what different famous pianists liked in the action/tone/keys etc. of their pianos; and how a tuner spends literally dozens of years perfecting his or her craft. Amazing stuff.
Cheers, Elaine

--- On Sat, 8/7/10, f_minor-request at glenngould.org <f_minor-request at glenngould.org> wrote:

From: f_minor-request at glenngould.org <f_minor-request at glenngould.org>
Subject: f_minor Digest, Vol 5, Issue 6
To: f_minor at glenngould.org
Received: Saturday, August 7, 2010, 4:00 PM

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Tureck and Gould (StudioDaCapo)

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Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 08:58:16 -0700
From: "StudioDaCapo" <StudioDaCapo at hotmail.com>
To: "Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould."
    <f_minor at glenngould.org>
Subject: Re: [f_minor] Tureck and Gould
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Thank you, Elaine, for your marvelous info.  It's so nice to have a corroborating guidance.
For me (as my subjective opinion) Tureck's influence on Gould goes without saying, 
and perhaps this is why the both players go hand in hand on my list, without belittling others, as the best female and male Bach player.

Have a good weekend.
SDC

From: Elaine Parks 
Date: Thursday, August 05, 2010 2:17 PM
To: f_minor at glenngould.org 
Subject: Re: [f_minor] Tureck and Gould

      Indeed GG credits Tureck with having greatly ifluenced his playing of Bach. You can find one of these instances in Jonathan Cott's interviews ("Conversations with Glenn Gould"): "I did like Tureck's recordings enormously - Tureck influenced me...she was the first person who played Bach in what seemed to me a sensible way...playing of such uprightness". 

       Cheers, Elaine

      --- On Thu, 8/5/10, f_minor-request at glenngould.org <f_minor-request at glenngould.org> wrote:

        From: f_minor-request at glenngould.org <f_minor-request at glenngould.org>
        Subject: f_minor Digest, Vol 5, Issue 4
        To: f_minor at glenngould.org
        Received: Thursday, August 5, 2010, 4:00 PM

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        Today's Topics:

           1. If Rosalyn Tureck... (maryellen jensen)

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        Message: 1
        Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 21:19:00 +0200
        From: maryellen jensen <maryellenjensen28 at hotmail.com>
        To: <f_minor at glenngould.org>
        Subject: [f_minor] If Rosalyn Tureck...
        Message-ID: <SNT111-W6042F78D1EA040C33C984B5AF0 at phx.gbl>
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        Believe me, I'm not going to be banging on about this forever but if while you're listening to this you are not also in mind of Gould's 1981-82 recording then pardon me but you haven't listened to Gould's second Goldberg. 
        Microsoft hotmail has does something bizarre by offering a little video box at the beginning of each email which I did not ask for. Forget that box and go to the hyperlink instead.

        http:///www.youtube.com/watch?v=HExHrFt2pPM&feature=related

        Mary Jensen    

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