Customer Reviews

Consort of Musicke by William Byrd & Orlando Gibbons; Sweelinck: Fantasia in D (The Glenn Gould Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Only Glenn Gould, with his effusion of rhapsodic gifts, could effectively create this beautifully austere recording! The application of his genius to these pre-Baroque gems leaves one thunderstruck! The most effective review is to simply implore: Buy This Recording! The choice of pieces is the key, and Gould's abundant mind is everywhere upon them - the Byrd is overflowing, the Gibbons is painted like a mediaeval town, and Sweelinck's Fastasia is at once Stokowskian in urgent intent and regal in repose. There is more than piano playing going on here; Gould rather impersonates this music, so liberated from all confines is the final result. Gould's vision is complete and unutterably right. A perfectly brilliant, absolutely essential recording of which you will never tire.

These recordings are absolute gems. In fact I daresay nothing like these performances has come before nor will come again. Gould is a genius, and the music he performs is timeless as well as historical. One can listen to this music and be transported to the 16th century, such is the power, beauty and effectiveness of Gould's interpretations. I cannot say enough of Gibbons and Sweelink, these masters are terribly underrated and unheard. Gould's touch is magical, technical virtuosity meets a true anachronistic artist. To the naysayers I say they have ears to ear yet do not hear, or in one ear and out the other. Anyone sensitive to true art will appreciate this music. Gould's performances and the composed music transcends banal quibbles like "he plays it too fast", or "it should be played on a virginal". Long live Byrd, Gibbons, Sweelinck and Gould!

Glenn Gould was a master of slow tempos, holding long melodic and contrapuntal lines together without using the damper pedal or any obvious pianistic tricks, and his extraordinary way with simple keyboard pieces shines through on this disc.

And even though these compositions are light stuff compared to the towering Bach masterpieces he recorded, there is plenty to enjoy here. And don't feel bad that Byrd and Gibbons are not played on a virginal. Nearly an hour of twanging away at these intimate, charming and modest pieces might drive an earnest modern listener crazy. Feel good about the heft and color of the modern Steinway. Gould brings body and warmth to what might otherwise be very minor pieces.

The "bonus" Sweelinck piece is further evidence of Gould's genius, but the sound quality is absolutely atrocious--taken from Canadian television in 1964 it sounds like something from a basement behind the Iron Curtain in the darkest, most technologically challenged days of Stalin's Cold War.

These are fine recordings that owe everything to Gould's eccentric and pure musical vision, but it must be stated that Sony Classical has hardly been generous with these reissues. The liner notes to this disc archly refer to "Columbia" in quotes, as if the record company that defined an entire era in classical music, comprehensively recording Bruno Walter, Leonard Bernstein, George Szell, Igor Stravinsky, and Glenn Gould, among countless other icons of the era, were a fictional bygone relic that modern day corporate record executives somehow have to refer to "in quotes."

One can hardly imagine that a perfectionist and technophile like Gould would allow such a poorly reproduced cut to be tacked on to one of the records he so lovingly produced.

Glenn Gould is at his incomparable best on this release of recordings done as early as 1964, just previous to his retirement from the concert stage. If you love Gould, you must own this recording. If you love Tudor music, you will treasure Gould's interpretations.

As a GG fan for over 30 years, I thought I knew most of his work; Sony, however, has issued more than was previously available--in a most excellent form. And so, I have the pleasure of discovering yet more wonderful GG works.

I had previously heard of the infamous Byrd/Gibbons recordings in the later 1970s; however, I had never actually heard the recordings themselves (--somehow the LP escaped me). Anyway, I am pleased to announce that this is another remarkable GG recording, and the infamy is due only to critics with a lack of understanding.

GG really honors these pieces of the Tudor virginalists: he sees what's really there. And then, his realizations on his Steinway grand really do something for this music which the little old clavichords could never achieve.

The interpretative art of Glenn Gould reached sidereal dimensions in this occasion playing the British virginalists. Gould made the complete journey and ellaborated a fine and fascinating portrait about the moods, mesmerizing approach, creating a spelling atmsophere around every single piece of this treasured album.

For all those who admire and still remaind his genius, this album is among his multiple golden recordings a special value.
Inspiered and fine recordings that will reward even the most exigenet listener.

A must-buy.

I echo the Spotlight review of J. Anderson, above, who has written eloquently. This music is a transporting experience.

Gould is wonderful in this domain. My only complaint is that the Sweelinck sound quality is especially poor. At times it sounds as if he's playing underwater.

Two reviewers have given these masterful interpretations four stars. Anything less than five is crime - hence this review. Gould draws forth an inner essence from each of the pieces, sounding fresh and new each time after a hundred rounds in my CD player.

This CD is the last word in `easy listen' Tudor music. I have gallons of that music, CDs, tapes and what little vinyl exists of this period [1500 - 1610 by my thinking] but this is one of the very few renderings of that polyphonic and couterpintual and `intellectual' music which one can call `graceful' which one can envision as a background to an interesting dinner. And the CD is ridiculously short [50 minutes] for the price but SONY will have its `pound of flesh' from this long dead piano artist.