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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff>Salute Michael:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff>it's funny you know, because I mostly like Scriabin piano works,
or at least to be fair, those that I've heard. Most of it is quite melodic
and as usual my initial reaction to the starkness or lack of flowing melody was
a turn off for me. Which could open up a whole can of worms, discussion
wise, for what constitutes a melody? Philip Glass, whose 75'th birthday it
is today (long may he write more) created melodies that HAL9000 computers
would enjoy, where the "line" is but a fragment that repeats for about 89 bars,
with hardly a fluctuation. Yet, we love Glass's music because of other
qualities. I simply adore his violin concerto and the soundtrack to
Powwaqatsi I've listened to a hundred times. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff>I wanted to draw our attention to something I had never heard
before. I heard someone play a section of it on one of the classical music
internet stations I listen to and I was interested...and downloaded the sheet
music from my usual source, all legal, and took it home to play. It was
practically unplayable and ferocious. It is Tchaikovsky's Piano
Sonata. I turned next to You Tube and found a recording by master Richter
who practically tore his piano apart playing it. The piece is hideous,
ugly and as atypical of P.I.T. as you can possibly imagine. What the heck
he was feeling when he wrote it I just can't fathom. It is also super,
duper difficult from a technical level and it is no wonder that no one plays it
on the concert circuit. It's ugly music, plain and simple, in my
view. It, like most music, has a melody, but it must be the one they sing
in Hades. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff>Back to GG, of course his musical choices (for recording) are
still somewhat of a surprise, both those chosen and those excluded. He
plays one or two Chopin pieces, steam rolling them into the ground but avoids
Rachmaninoff, even the smaller solo pieces; I can't understand why? I
don't believe he recorded any Debussy, but he recorded Ravel. I think he
might have recorded one or two Mendelssohn small things but avoided the rest of
the familiar chestnuts. Why? He chose only a few Haydn sonatas
and they are divine and yet he nearly assassinates Mozart's familiar
sonatas. He performed no Czerny or other contemporaries of Beethoven,
unless I'm mistaken here. His attraction to the 20'th century atonalists
is also odd to me. The Hindemith is passably melodic but the Schoenberg I
can't stand. He also avoided lots of other Russians including Kabalevsky,
Shostakovich and Khachaturian. If he liked atonal or weird (to me) music
then why didn't he play Stockhausen or Charles Ives? Anyway, too many
words already.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff>Kind regards,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff>Fred Houpt</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=911072720-31012012><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff></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>michael
macelletti<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, January 31, 2012 3:16 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.; gail paynter<BR><B>Subject:</B>
Re: [f_minor] Scriabin<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">
<DIV>bravo, fred !!! you have said it perfectly. and your instincts are
correct. don't feel you have to re-listen to scriabin to find what you have been
told you missed. for you have missed nothing. you won't find much more the
second time around. don't get me wrong. mr
scriabin offered a breakthrough ( or continuation ) in the destruction of key,
and the chance to play the world's hardest piece, according to s. richter.
( the only problem with the latter is that now EVERY pianist plays
it to deserve that prestige ). and there are very impressive
clusters of musical color. but the problem is that it's a little like mickey
mouse , the sorcerer. a lot of impressive motion and noise, but not much
else.------ in the same league with your bach ? nope, not a chance.
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><SPAN
class=911072720-31012012><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3> [snip] </FONT></SPAN>
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