Re: some Gouldian Schubert & Scarlatti

[Matthew Harding <ktlgroup@sprint.ca>]

YES! YES! YES!

In one of my music appreciation classes in University (hey, Computer
Science degree, I needed the extra credits, leave me alone), my teacher
played Ivo Pogorelich's 3rd English Suite and I was _this_ close to
jumping off the altar and proclaiming all things Gould-ness.

It later turned out my teacher knew of my fascination of Gould, and had
played it in order to trick me. It was only my carefully listening to
known eccentricities, I mean features of the piece, could I tell it
wasn't GG. (It's OK, he played Contrapunctus IX from GG for me).

Speaking of which, he said GG inspired him to be a music teacher, and to
learn "Pieces for Prepared Piano". I can't remember who wrote it, but he
told me it was very similar to some of the themes GG wrote about it. I
was afraid to argue with him because Gould would probably have approved!

Final vote: for those Canadians familiar with Angela Hewitt, don't
forget Angela Cheng (Chang?). Another Canadian with exceptional talent.

Cheers,
matthew


Jim Morrison wrote:
> 
> > On the recent topic of other pianists who exhibit Gouldian qualities, try
> > this one:
> >
> 
> My recommendation is Ivo Pogorelich's 1986 recording of the Second and Third
> English Suites.  To my regrettably untrained ear, in this recording
> Pogorelich comes closer to sounding like Gould than the more well-known and
> available Bach-on-the-piano interpreters that I am familiar with: Schiff,
> Hewitt, Rubsum, Jando, Rosen and Tureck.  (Hewitt, by the way, gets my
> recommendation as the best of the bunch.) As the liner notes point out,
> there's a "powerful sense of forward motion" to Pogorelich's playing, a
> sense of momentum that seems to be almost uniquely Gouldian.  Here's a
> snippet of what Gramophone had to say about the recording.  Notice the Gould
> comment.
> 
> "These are deeply considered readings (so too were Gould's LPs on CBS M2
> 39682, 6/86, though laced with eccentricity) as well as marvellous displays
> of pianistic control, bubblingly joyous in the Preludes, raptly
> contemplative in the Sarabandes, commanding your attention and respect even
> when you don't agree with them. Pogorelich adds nothing to the score, beyond
> a few ornamental inconsistencies, and the repeats (back to square one!) are
> literal; to him, what Bach wrote is clearly sufficient. The recorded sound
> is of the very best; the LP slightly rounder and warmer.
> JD"
> 
> Are other people  familiar with this recording and can they say what is and
> is not Gouldian about it?  (Bradley, that's your cue, please.)
> 
> Making a more abstract comparison, for me Richter's live 58 Pictures at an
> Exhibition displays a spirit of passionate and joyous solo piano adventure
> rivaled only by the 55 Goldbergs.  Anyone else sense a connection (other
> than being in mono and from the fifties :-) between these two classic
> recordings?
> 
> Jim