Brendel vs Gould : perspective

[Arne Klindt <a.klindt@gmx.net>]

<unlurk>

Brendel and Gould obviously met sometime "when we were very young."

"After dinner he [Gould] sat down at the piano and played a piece by Ernst
Krenek which he was very enthusiastic about. Then he played the sonata for
piano by Alban Berg, which i had studied too. After the performance I was
able to point out to him that he had not punctuated the rhythm in one
place. Some time later [our host] played a tape of the fugue of the
Hammerklavier-Sonata that I had just recorded, and Gould told me that there
was a place in which i had doubled octaves, even though they were not in
the text. This was quite funny and I have to say that Gould was very
charming and good-looking. In the years that followed he was very friendly
towards me in an essay, praising my Mozart-Concert recordings. In an
extensive interview in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" [still one of
Germany's leading newspapers] someone told me he said he was leading
longish telephone conversations with me - which is totally incorrect."

I guess this paragraph puts Brendel's comments on Gould's musicianship into
perspective. There was no personal disagreement as the two met only once,
they just seem(ed) to be totally different musicians. (Brendel adores
Mozart, of course)

This leads me to a question: I am always a bit astounded at Gould's
profound "discomfort" with Mozart. Reading some of his letters and essays
on the topic I find that Brendel is not altogether incorrect in calling
Gould an eccentric. Is anyone aware of another musician equally disinclined
towards Mozart? (I can understand Gould's rantings, yet I think this is due
to my lack of classical training (I'm a Bach addict though...))

Arne Klindt

</unlurk>