Re: GG - importance of bass

[Michael Arnowitt <arnowitt@sover.net>]

>
>Who else besides Savall makes textures rise out of a firm bass like this
>(not just in the Brandenburgs, but in general philosophy of musical
>interpretation)?  The three examples that come first to mind are Nikolaus
>Harnoncourt (another bowed-bassline player himself), Leopold Stokowski
>(ex-organist) and Glenn Gould (lefty and sitting low).
>

Total agreement with these and other comments later on in Brad's post about
GG's strong left-hand.  At the GG conference in Toronto last fall, they
played three pianists all doing the same Bach prelude (think it was A major
from WTC 2):  Tureck, Gould, and an old recording, I think, of Edwin
Fischer's.  The comparison was very striking.  The main difference to me
wasn't tempo so much as the fact that Gould's left-hand bass line was so
much stronger ... the music had twice as much life to it.  The others
sounded sleepy by comparison.

Of course, Casals, being a cellist, also is satisfying in this way.  But I
grew up with his Brandenburgs, so I'm naturally very, very sentimentally
attached to them.  I'll try some of the other recordings Brad recommended.

Michael