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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3>GG was highly selective when defining music whose
forms were overly virtuosic. For example, there are many Brahms pieces
that are very hard to play, especially the 2'nd Piano Concerto (gosh, did GG
play this one or was it only #1?) and yet he loved Brahms. There are
sections in the Goldberg that are as complex and devilishly difficult to
play as anything Liszt did yet we never complain about how easy GG made it
sound. It is true that Bach would have found Liszt's overt drawing of
attention to his own physical skills to be gross. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3>GG's Chopin, for me, is like listening to him roll over it
with a heavy steam roller, delighting in pulling apart all the thinly laid
superstructure, performing the music as if it had no skeleton and smirking all
along. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3>It is also true that Rach like other Russian composers
often wears his heart all over the notes and perhaps GG's sometimes Apollonian
sensibilities were just put off by such exaggerated postures? This is then
hard to explain by GG's choice of that wonderful Bizet short piece on one of his
recordings. It is also hard then to understand that very rich emotionalism
of the Richard Strauss album, which I do treasure. GG then in my view was
like many of us, capable of embodying contradictory tastes that defy purely
rational analysis. I am saddened that he did not play some Rach and the
Rhapsody would have bored me as it is waaaaayyyyy over played. I would
have enjoyed him doing a sonata or some of the other showy pieces that I so
enjoy. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3>I would have just as much enjoyed GG doing the complete
Bach "Musical Offering" and complete "Art of the Fugue". Why he chose to
fragment those pieces and not take up the whole like the Goldberg's is a
mystery.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3>cheers,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=365362513-14072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3>Fred Houpt</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> f_minor-bounces@glenngould.org
[mailto:f_minor-bounces@glenngould.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>James
Wright<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, July 13, 2010 4:10 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
f_minor@glenngould.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [f_minor] Gould and
Rachmaninoff<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>I believe that this topic has appeared on this list a few
times. A reminder that Gould generally dispised Rachmaninoff's works
precisely because it focuses on the virtuostic and the
expressive. However he felt that Rachmaninoff's work as a pianist had some
merit, and he owned some recordings.<BR> <BR>Most of the standard
biographies deal with Gould's disdain for music of this kind. Some of GG's
comments on Rach. appear in his short essay on Alexis Weissenberg (see, for ex.,
<A
href="http://www.solopassion.com/node/6655">http://www.solopassion.com/node/6655</A>).
Personally, I have difficulty understanding Gould's admiration for some of
Weissenberg's recordings. It is equally well known that Gould was not
over-fond of most of Chopin's music, however he wrote that he could live
without Chopin's piano concertos until he heard Alexis Weissenberg's
recording.<BR> <BR>J.<BR><BR>James K. Wright, Ph.D. <BR>
<DIV>Associate Professor &</DIV>
<DIV>Supervisor of Performance Studies</DIV>
<DIV>School for Studies in Art & Culture: Music</DIV>
<DIV>A917 Loeb Building, Carleton University<BR>1125 Colonel By Drive<BR>Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6<BR>Email: <A
href="mailto:James_Wright@carleton.ca"><FONT
color=#0066cc>James_Wright@carleton.ca</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV>Telephone : (613) 520-2600 (ext. 3734)<BR>Fax : (613)
520-3905<BR></DIV> <BR>Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:15:45 -0400<BR>From:
fred.houpt@rbc.com<BR>To: f_minor@glenngould.org<BR>Subject: Re: [f_minor]
Facebook<BR><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=ecx901260718-13072010><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=3><SPAN
class=365362513-14072010> [snip] </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV><font face="monospace">_______________________________________________________________________<br>
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