Customer Reviews

The Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Glenn Gould's playing prompted the great George Szell to say, "That nut is a genius." Gould is indeed a controversial pianist. While he was responsible for resurgence in interest in Bach (along with Roselyn Tureck and some others), Gould's playing arouses tremendous passion both pro and con. For a while I subscribed to a use-list on Bach; the members argued so much about Gould that the web master had to intervene, and when that did not work she pulled the plug on the entire site.

Readers should know that I like Glenn Gould. His are not the only worthy interpretations of Bach, but they are indispensable if one is to get a broad and rounded picture of how this greatest of all composers is to be understood.

Gould learned Book One of the WTC from his mother. After he recorded it for Columbia (now Sony) he hardly ever played a selection from Book One again. On the other hand he made numerous recordings of various preludes and fugues from Book Two, both before and after his Columbia complete recording.

His interpretations are certainly unique. Comparing him with other great pianists you will find that he takes tempos that are slower or faster than more conventional versions. This drives some listeners crazy. For my taste I tend to prefer more individualistic performances, and therefore like Gould more than Schiff for example.

Other worthy interpretations of WTC are of course Edwin Fischer on EMI, Richter on Le Chant du Monde, and Schiff on Decca/London for comparison. Recordings of various individual preludes and fugues by Tureck are nearly always worthwhile.

The preludes and fugues of Book Two are a bit darker and more spiritual than those of Book One, and thus suited Gould's temperament more closely. But for beginners I will concede that it takes several listenings to fully get into the WTC, or "forty-eight", as they are also known. Still, like the Goldberg Variations and The Art of Fugue, they are more than worth the effort.

It is rare for an artist to so totally inhabit a work as Gould does the WTC, Books 1 & 2. Particularly striking and moving is the singing quality Gould gives many of the preludes, reminding one of Bach's B minor mass rather than harpsichord performances of the same pieces.

The fugues are also remarkable for their clarity of line and the way Gould seems to effortlessly develop whatever it is that intrigues him in a given fugue. You can hear the joy in his playing as he plays a line which falls silent and then proceeds to work his way through a fugue's complexities toward the line's rebirth.

Although Gould critics often scoff at perceived idiosyncracies in his playing, I have difficulty believing that Bach - the master improviser - would not have approved of Gould's approach. The sprituality that one hears in Bach's cello and vocal works - a spirituality present, but to a lesser degree, in his keyboard works performed on harpsichord - is fully present in these piano performances.

Someone who is already familiar with the WTCs, or who loves Glenn Gould, or both, would be the best audience for this performance. From the very first bars, with the flowing ascending theme played partly in a counter-intuitive staccato, the in-the-know listener can tell that this will be a highly idiosyncratic rendering. Sure enough, Gould willfully takes some pieces at half-speed, presumably to display the "inner structure", while others are played very fast, near the notes-per-second barrier.

It may well be true that Gould understood Bach better than any other pianist--his unexpected insights are certainly plentiful enough, however convincing they may or may not be. And Bach seems never to have been very specific about how he wanted his music played. However, a newcomer to this work would do well to begin with a more conventional reading. In the wrong hands the WTC's can be as dull as someone reciting the multiplication tables. Yet Gould's version, though faultless in execution and brimming with ideas, is just too distinctive, shall we say, to recommend as this work's bible performance.

Gould's playing always raises debate, and leaves no one not either loving it or hating it. I for one, initilly disliked this record as I was brought up with more pianistic, romantic versions of the WTC in the style of for instance Andras Schiff. But it grows on you, and shortly it became my reference. No one gets close to his perfected way of managing micro tempi and strike the balance between drive and elegance, voice and flow. OK, I must admit, a he exposes more of the drive than elegance, and the voice handling sometimes tend to be at the extreme end. (And then I don't mean the occasional humming...)
I find the argument that we hear more of Gould than Bach in this recording amusing. I'd argue that most of the other recordings you will find on the shelves probably sound less like Bach than Gould's performance, but this I find, is in any case beside the point. In the days of Father Bach, improvisation was commonplace, and then we have the issue of the instrument (piano vs harpsichord). Few performers have looked into these issues deeper than Gould, but bottom line - I don't really care. I can fully hear Bach's intentions in his playing, and Gould's unique playing gives me plenty explore and get excited about.

It is amazing how I seem to always come back to Gould's records. Scholars can argue that he adds more Gould than Bach to his performances, but I simply do not care. I am not even sure that Bach wouldn't strongly have approved, a musician who was famous for improvisation and letting up to the performer to decide how things should sound. I certainly can hear Johann Sebastian's genius more clearly and enjoyable in GG's recording than in anyone else's. Six stars! A must for Bach lovers.

Amazing recording. Although I have 15 records of the WTC I/II with other performers, this remains my absolute favourite. On can always argue that Gould somewhat eccentric playing isn't Bach, but who cares? If you want historical clones, try the harpsichord versions. I am sure that Bach would strngly approve of Herr Gould's way of playing!

Strongly recommended record of the music litterature's standard works. Necessary in every music lover's home (goes for the Gould WCT II as well).

For lovers of Bach this recording is essential. It is filled with the magic of bach at his finest. Many popular and legendary composers/musicians feel that the Well Tempered Clavier is a milestone for all who need insight into the world of western music as we know it today. As far as this particular recording, Gould's majesty shines through (as does with most of his recordings) in an effort to display such a significant piece. I had done abit of research on this recording and found that Gould slaved over all of his recordings in order to achieve the finest possible results. His extensive experiments with microphone positioning, technique with the piano and use of the control boards in the studio is only to our advantage as listeners and this recording is certainly no exception. A must for any library.

This magnificent performance must be considered the definitive Bach for our time. The independence of the individual voices is simply breathtaking. Gould plays each voice with its own sound--as many as four simultaneously. In the more complex fugues, the pianism is unique. Fischer, Richter, and Kocsis can stand in the wings. They use tons of pedal, which only serves to blur the individual voices. But, even when they are able to accomplish the fingerwork reasonably well, they can only produce contrapuntal effects that may be technically adequate, but are unable to even begin to approach Gould's singular ability to give each voice a sound of its own, while playing the voices against each other. What more can one say? Listen, and marvel. The likes of this level of playing will not be heard again in our lifetime. If you like this, get Gould's Italian Concerto by Bach, and you will be speechless.

Classical music is interpretation: Modern-day performers and conductors put their unique stamp on music that was written long ago in a very different world. The only real question is, does the interpretation remain faithful to what we believe to be the spirit of the original work, or does it go beyond, into something else altogether?

In some cases (Beethoven piano concerti come to mind), much is to be gained by strict adherence to "period" styles and instruments. In other instances, however, certain music lends itself to revitalization...the WTC is a perfect example. This was music written to demonstrate advances in music notation; in other words, it was the eighteenth-century equivalent of today's hi-fi "demonstration disc", it existed to serve a technical purpose. It's hard to imagine that Bach would have considered WTC to be inviolate, although he certainly must have felt that way about much of his other work.

That notwithstanding, a surpassing genius such as Bach deserves special consideration, regardless of his original intent for the music. However, we must also remember that the idea of preserving period sounds is a twentieth-century phenomenon; eighteenth and nineteenth-century composers were used to their music being radically modified from performance to performance. I believe that if Bach could survive the shock of playing as individualistic and emotional as Gould's, he'd be delighted by the new angles uncovered by this strikingly original, if not shocking interpretation.

Yes, Gould "sings along". Yes, he takes liberties with tempos, articulation, etc. But in the end, his reading of WTC is fresh, original, and uniquely his own, without denying the unapproachable perfection already put there by Bach himself. Bach would have approved, and Gould's reading has stood the test of time. No one says that this needs to be the "definitive" WTC, but it is a triumph in its own right. Like Bach, Glenn Gould was a true original.

When I heard Gould for the first time, I didn't like his playing. It made me nervous. It disturbed me. I felt like being punched in the face. Then I repeated the disc. I repeated it over and over for all night long. I remember I saw the daylight listening to THE MUSIC. I can still recall: I realized that I heard and sensed the most beautiful thing of my life!