Customer Reviews

Beethoven/Liszt: Symphony No.6, Op. 68, "Pastoral" (Piano Transcription)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Glenn Gould CD features a wonderfully fresh recording of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, transcribed for solo piano by Franz Liszt. I'm sure I'm not alone in stating that Beethoven's Sixth is one of my favorite symphonies. To date with my classical collecting I've tried to settle on only one first rate version of each classical performance, but in the case of the Sixth I have three (so far) -- Bernstein/NYPO, Bohm/Vienna and the historic Toscanini/NBC set. One of my original reasons for buying these three different versions was to learn how classical performances differ from disc to disc, orchestra to orchestra. That same reasoning led me to purchase this album by Gould. In the exact opposite way that Stokowski expanded Bach's "Toccata And Fugue" for organ into a legendary modern performance for orchestra, Liszt has contracted Beethoven's Sixth and boiled it down to its essence for piano. Of course, one of the reasons that this works is Beethoven himself was a pianist. Liszt undoubtedly used this to his advantage when making this transcription. But Liszt adds some of his own flourishes as well to Beethoven's masterpiece. For example, the second movement has been expanded to over twenty minutes -- it is a full seven minutes longer here than it is on the Bernstein Century symphonic version. As far as Gould's playing goes, he turns in another magical, transcendental performance. Any fan of Beethoven's "Pastoral" will enjoy this CD.

I was sceptical of hearing a piano transcription of a Beethoven symphony,regardless of the pianist. I believe the original recording of the piano transcription of the Pastoral by Gould was in 1968, by the CBC for a radio broadcast. I am not a recording engineer and I know nothing of sound bits or dynamic ranges, I can only say that I was overwhelmed by the sensitive interpretation and the sound quality of this much-loved symphonic work. The closing movement, with the Shepherd's Hymn, is brilliant. In my opinion this is Glenn Gould at his absolute best.

This is, as one should expect from Glenn Gould, a masterful interpretation, as he was able to bring his highly developed skill in realizing all voices in polyphonic texture to the playing of a major symphonic work transcribed for the piano.

Beethoven is said to have heard the young Liszt play and declare that "He will make my music understood in this world." Of course, Beethoven expressed a desire to have his symphonies transcribed for piano, as this was a fine way of getting more people to hear them back in the days before recorded music. I also think that the piano lays bare, or clarifies, the structure -- the architecture -- of this music, so as to enhance the experience of hearing a great symphony orchestra perform this glorious Beethoven work: it prepares the listener mentally for the enriched orchestral coloring.

I must admit that I'd rather have the original CD version, as the downloaded MP3 file has, at least in my case, created a couple of technical errors that I'm quite certain are not in the actual recording (e.g., the final chord in the third movement is interrupted -- but it was correctly sounded before the repeat of the passage). Hopefully Sony will re-release this CD for sale at a reasonable price.

Last remark: If I had been Gould, I would have considered one of the four-hand transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies, specifically the one made by Hugo Ulrich and published by C.F. Peters, as the modern recording studio would have allowed him to play both Primo and Secondo parts in the duet. Nevertheless, the Liszt transcription is fully sufficient.

This is a gorgeous recording wherein GG captures the realization of a gestalt--i.e., an overall unified aesthetic concept of the work of art from beginning to end: the individual movements are not considered as separate from the unity of the piece as a whole. The maintainence of an overall unity of vision in conceptual space-time is something which only a genius of GG's stature can achieve. To disparage his time scale as "too slow" is to utterly misunderstand his artisitic vision: this is what separates critic from cretin.

By the way, if a complete set of Liszt's piano transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies is desired, Leslie Howard's on Hyperion is the one to get.

Simply outstanding and powerful remarkable are at least the epithets deserved after you listen carefully this glorious performance. Gould catches the adequate atmosphere requested by Beethoven. The mood, charm, and rapture demanded in this Symphony. Curiosly this tonality F major has very interesting link with Brahms Third Symphony: this is the call of the Goddess mother.

In the other hand Gould never sounds romantic. His octaves define with brightness, transparency and honesty every little detail in this major work.

If you loved the previous transcriptions made for Gould of the Fifth that signified in that age the world premiere recording, just before the later versions made by Badura Skoda and Katsaris, you will never forget this masterwork of this gifted keyboard maestro.

A must in your collection.

Beethoven's Sixth is one of my favorites, and I also loved Glenn Gould's playing of the Fifth symphony, which is extremly sublime. But, I don't understand why his playing of the Sixth is so dull and cold. At some point it becomes so slow that you can hardly follow the main melody. I would recommend, for the Sixth, Cyprien Katsaris's playing of the Sixth, available on Amazon (ASIN: B000PJ7QAI, Teldec) or in a box set with other piano transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies.

I"m generally a fan of Gould, but this is too often slow,heavy, and pedantic. His dry contrapuntal approach works alright for the first movement, but in the second movement many of the Alberti bass patterns are much too prominent-- as if he were practicing this piece, rather than performing it. Its one of the instances which make you question Gould's intentions.

No offense to Glenn Gould fans, but this recording is so slow, particularly the 2nd movement, that it almost makes Beethoven and Liszt boring! I have heard several renditions of this symphony and I even perform the 3rd movement on piano. You need to be a die hard Glenn Gould fan to really enjoy this recording. My wife mentioned that Gould's rendition of the 3rd movement was painful, mostly because it's too slow (which you can hear when you listen to the preview).

That said, I strongly recommend the magnificent recordings by Cyprien Katsaris. Katsaris performs each movement of the symphonies at the correct tempo and with expressive dynamics. Katsaris performs with precision and even includes instruments that Liszt had left out of the transcription. For example, in the 4th movement ("The Storm") of the Pastoral, Katsaris adds notes for the kettle drums to make the sound of the thunder. Gould does not include any of the instruments left out. Also, Katsaris takes the repeats, often with an "ossia". Liszt included several "ossia" passages and Katsaris plays that on the repeat. Gould rarely takes the repeats.

If you are looking for a great recording of Beethoven's Symphonies go with Cyprien Katsaris instead. Glenn Gould's are okay, but too slow and boring. Compared to the alternative, this receives 2 stars.

Frankly, I'm a fan of Glenn Gould. Also I'm looking for such album it's hard to find. The symphony of Beethoven which recompose by List of piano. If you don't know what the feeling. When piano paly the symphony of Beethoven. Try it and you'll never regrate.