Impossible to EVER forget, when I first saw this man play on TV, back in the 80s. He became a lifelong companion, and will remain so, until the day I die. And thanks for sharing--which goes without saying.
He is one of the performers whose interpretations are so strong that they tend to present utterly new aspects of music already created, so that I'm sure even the composers would be fascinated to hear them, and in Gould there is no separation between the performer and the composer, as he has rethought the music of others to such an extent that he's almost the composer of his performance. Ah well, it's magic - better to just listen.
@@ciararespect4296 With all due respect, I have to disagree with your conclusion here. Yes, Gould is sometimes mistaken for being a 'typist', but I think this is due to the way he goes against traditional expectations of pianists. He often does approach the piano like one would the harpsichord, favoring a quasi-percussive attack and a strong sense of rhythmic linearity. But if you listen to his tone, it reveals incredible directness, emotionality, vocalism, and clarity, which are the products of a curious, intuitive and penetrating mind. His playing is very direct, unburdened by excessive rubato and the obligation to do things 'correctly', which I think robs many of today's pianists of their power and originality. I do feel that Gould's approaches music-making as a composer. It's as if he gets into the mind of the composer and joins forces with them to create something original, insightful, and very cohesive. By doing so, he shows us that music is a living creative process, and that it is ok for new perspectives to open our minds and challenge our assumptions. I'm a professional pianist, by the way.
I love listening to Gould play this music even though I don't understand this music. It has no melody that I can recognize, it is so strange, it sounds like glass breaking and falling onto the floor, but somehow Glenn allows me to enjoy it immensely! I attribute this to Glenn's magical powers.
In my opininion, this execution of the Berg's Sonata op.1 is not only the best one among all the others available by Glenn Gould: this execution is the best one in the Story! And it's really wonderful, an absolute masterpiece! Thank you for this sharing.
i think the gibbons pavane is without doubt one of the most profound compositions in music history. the change in key after the first few minutes is a master stroke. it changes the emotion considerably and makes the music previous to this a kind of prelude to this out pouring of feeling and expression which almost sounds romantic whereas the opening is very much a renaissance composition.
I know! Glad someone can appreciate that. Was watching the keys closely here to see what the patterns were because they seemed simple enough but man what flavor of emotion it is.
it's like nothing else, and the joy of watching him play it (as opposed to listening to the studio version, which is, of course, still fantastic) really does something too. like adding an extra three dimensions to what is already so highly-dimensional
R.D. Dragon yes, when the camera crops his hands out is very frustrating. I like the view from above at 11:50 where you see his whole frame and his hands dancing all over the keyboard. I could watch and listen to the whole performance just from that framing. It really gives you a sense of what is going on.
@@dinsy512Yes, watching his hands I can see the inversions. Retrograde inversions. Or something very like that. The camera angles can help describe the piece's structure.
Personally I really enjoy all the angles. Gould was a teacher in everything he did, from his playing to discussions to these videos. All the perspectives can give you a really comprehensive understanding of how he played for anyone willing to study it. Personally I try to base many aspects of my playing on his technique and these videos are priceless in that way. For the angles his face, I mean, besides him being gorgeous it’s great to watch him in his trance as he pulls you inside the music together.
If you hear the Schonberg Suite without realizing what it is after the Byrd you realize just a little how marvelous Schonberg iz! That pf concerto ? Poor Edward Steurmann - he really loved this stuff . His programmes are completely composers who were living in his time I wonder what these Gibbons Pavane sound like on a guitar as a pianist I know those tinny chamber room keyboards of the late 16th century couldn't sustain pitches like this ...but this is the ideal music he makes out of them !Ive never heard Gibbons or Byrd in a recital programme . Pianists should start playing music the average person can like . A 3 or 4 movement Sonata is too formal . Ive seen 19th century programmes all these small trifles then a singer then a violinist and cellist then the orchestra or neighborhood quartet or trio play . Wow . Now that the average person is so poorly educated we could easily go back to this even if ther is only a single performer .
Looks like artificial intelligence at work: suggested video "Glenn Gould Plays Gibbons..." followed by "Baboons are not Pets!" which I also found to be moving and profound.
The hostility still directed towards Schoenberg's music is difficult for me to understand. For me it's always been powerfully expressive expressionistic music - it's now over 100 years old and just as much a classic as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc.and is treated as such by most educated musicians everywhere.
Because it's only noise: Give us something easy to sing to Give us something simple to cling to Something we can all understand Said the company man Oh yeah We sing
I love Schoenberg because he was different and the same for Gould . Arnold Schoenberg had to wait for the world to catch up to the music . The masses were behind .
The problem with Schoenberg's music is that he tries to extend music into atonal structure, but then sticks with Western scales, which to me makes the whole exercise pointless. I find music of people like John Cage vastly more interesting. Take this for example: th-cam.com/video/snTc5zByQ98/w-d-xo.html
I wish he had recorded more of this music also, and it's puzzling to me that he had expressed such a dislike of so much of Mozart but recorded all the Sonatas while Gibbons, whom he said was his favorite composer, he only recorded a few pieces.
Considering that Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg's music is about 100 years old, ... it is quite remarkable that the audience here, still pretty uniformly disdains it as 'modern',... random, and dissonant... (remembering my 6th grade music teacher in 1964 claiming the Beatles were doing nothing more than screaming and would be forgotten in less than a year)....wonder what she thought of 'modern music'. Contrary to Paul West's comment, I think it might be rather difficult to pull off a pseudo- 12 tone piece, if one really didn't know what one was doing,... however detecting the difference, between the Schoenberg, and the Webern , in this case could be quite difficult especially without looking at the video, and seeing the camera angle change,... on the other hand the Berg quite stands out from the other two atonalist pieces preceding it! If it wasn't supposed to be serious, Gould's histrionics, and antics at the keyboard for the 'Atonal' works would certainly compete with John Cleese doing "the Ants communicating the location of crumbs with one another" sketch , for sheer hilarity! I think Gould might even appreciate that! Now I'll have to relisten to the Gibbons again, I'll need more than a few moments for my early 20th century angst to dissipate....
I don't know much modern atonal music but thinking I may be ready for it now - to me an important measure of any art is how well does it represent "reality" as we know it - orderly predictable music has its place but the unpredictable kind can affirm that one is not totally insane for finding "reality" to be pretty weird. My only grudge against Gould is now I'm not in love with Robert Plant any more.
He definitely didn't read music just eidetically photographed it in his memory and the music wasn't notated it was felt. Didn't like his humming though but he had to do it otherwise he couldn't play
are there any seasoned schönberg listeners? does it get easy? I just don't understand how can anyone enjoy such music. his verklarte nacht being one exception I personally know of, I can't tell if it's music or not.
I think the further Schoenberg distanced himself from Gurrelieder the better it became . Some of the better works are Transfigured night and Five pieces for Orchestra .
5:52 the way Gould is playing these wonderful pieces is scandalous . Not a pianist , a fridge . Forgetting all the lyrical and emotionnal side of these romantic moments ....
I always thought Schoenberg sounds like arbitrary piano noodling, like something you can just make up off the cuff and 98% of most listeners wouldn't even know the difference. Of course, one would need to be a reasonably skilled pianist, but I'll bet it could be pulled off pretty convincingly.
If you stretch your imagination to recognize the unusual musical shapes then it can be quite enjoyable and intricate. For example: I like to think that it's classical musics version of hip hop. I can see the music making gangster faces and what have you, hehe. But anyway, give it an honest try. Cause it's actually pretty hard to get it to sound like a meaningful story/dialogue when it's so dissonant. Attempt and compare.
Schoenberg, and the other Second V School composers are hacks compared to composers like John Cage, or Ryoji Ikeda. I mean, if you want to go atonal, don't go half way! Why be stuck using Western chromatic scales, when there is a world of sound sources to use?
What a waste of Gould! He could play Bach instead and i would be much better. Music isn't about MATH!! Music is something that touches you without any analysis. Stravinsky's music is modern and yet beautiful. You enjoy just by listening to it. But what do you find in THIS music except of smart formulas? nothing
אברהם מילר Have you had any form of musical training? Just curious, because if you've ever studied the music, you would surely know that to be a mythicised fallacy.
Impossible to EVER forget, when I first saw this man play on TV, back in the 80s. He became a lifelong companion, and will remain so, until the day I die.
And thanks for sharing--which goes without saying.
This is one of my favourite Gould comments ever.
Same here, bro
If there is such a thing as a "transport of ecstasy" Glenn is experiencing it when he plays.
Gibbons, Orlando, 1583-1625. Lord of Salisbury pavane.
4:00 Byrd, William, 1542 or 1543-1623. Galliards, keyboard instrument, MB 32b.
5:52 Schoenberg, Arnold, 1874-1951. Suites, piano, op. 25.Intermezzo
9:40 Webern, Anton, 1883-1945. Variations, piano, op. 27.
14:52 Berg, Alban, 1885-1935. Sonata, piano, op. 1.
Thank you!!
iok-1 without Bach...
Thank you!
Thanks
Thank you
He is one of the performers whose interpretations are so strong that they tend to present utterly new aspects of music already created, so that I'm sure even the composers would be fascinated to hear them, and in Gould there is no separation between the performer and the composer, as he has rethought the music of others to such an extent that he's almost the composer of his performance. Ah well, it's magic - better to just listen.
Beautifully articulated. Thank you.
Thanks, exactly explained
Don't dare compare the humble pianist to the composer. Gould was a great typist but no composer
@@ciararespect4296 With all due respect, I have to disagree with your conclusion here. Yes, Gould is sometimes mistaken for being a 'typist', but I think this is due to the way he goes against traditional expectations of pianists. He often does approach the piano like one would the harpsichord, favoring a quasi-percussive attack and a strong sense of rhythmic linearity. But if you listen to his tone, it reveals incredible directness, emotionality, vocalism, and clarity, which are the products of a curious, intuitive and penetrating mind. His playing is very direct, unburdened by excessive rubato and the obligation to do things 'correctly', which I think robs many of today's pianists of their power and originality. I do feel that Gould's approaches music-making as a composer. It's as if he gets into the mind of the composer and joins forces with them to create something original, insightful, and very cohesive. By doing so, he shows us that music is a living creative process, and that it is ok for new perspectives to open our minds and challenge our assumptions. I'm a professional pianist, by the way.
I believe I checked out this dvd from the library when I was around 17. Update: I'm 45 and still have the same dvd
Not sure yet about modern classical music - but I know that if anyone is going to teach me to appreciate it, it’ll be Glenn Gould …
I love listening to Gould play this music even though I don't understand this music. It has no melody that I can recognize, it is so strange, it sounds like glass breaking and falling onto the floor, but somehow Glenn allows me to enjoy it immensely! I attribute this to Glenn's magical powers.
beauty doesn’t need to be understood. for beauty it is enough to only exist.
The special Slowliness of the Berg-Sonata is just so unique and sublime, cannot find any better words for this than the notes themselves.
And the theme from Casablanca is very special too. No, seriously. Hear it?
In my opininion, this execution of the Berg's Sonata op.1 is not only the best one among all the others available by Glenn Gould: this execution is the best one in the Story! And it's really wonderful, an absolute masterpiece! Thank you for this sharing.
Astonishing Berg Sonata!Amazing Gibbons too.
i think the gibbons pavane is without doubt one of the most profound compositions in music history. the change in key after the first few minutes is a master stroke. it changes the emotion considerably and makes the music previous to this a kind of prelude to this out pouring of feeling and expression which almost sounds romantic whereas the opening is very much a renaissance composition.
I know! Glad someone can appreciate that. Was watching the keys closely here to see what the patterns were because they seemed simple enough but man what flavor of emotion it is.
Pure bible, man
Gould's performance is spectacular, he makes it sound like Bach and Chopin at the same time!
it's like nothing else, and the joy of watching him play it (as opposed to listening to the studio version, which is, of course, still fantastic) really does something too. like adding an extra three dimensions to what is already so highly-dimensional
Inimitable GG. Individual ideas and passions. With a powerful technique to open windows to enjoy Sound Worlds of many Composers.
He is genius!!!!
This is beautiful !
Now you can see a link to the same session in which he plays Bach...thank you
Just listen!!!! Forget about understanding!!! Let the music be your guide to exploring the universe within!!!😇
Thank you so much for this upload stunning
Glenn, pura delicadeza.
Oh I wish we could see the footage of the whole performance from the camera pointing down at his hands! (e.g., 1:58)
R.D. Dragon yes, when the camera crops his hands out is very frustrating. I like the view from above at 11:50 where you see his whole frame and his hands dancing all over the keyboard. I could watch and listen to the whole performance just from that framing. It really gives you a sense of what is going on.
@@dinsy512Yes, watching his hands I can see the inversions. Retrograde inversions. Or something very like that. The camera angles can help describe the piece's structure.
Same. I don't wanna see hid jaw going up and down like a demented frenzied cow in a field chewing its cud
Personally I really enjoy all the angles. Gould was a teacher in everything he did, from his playing to discussions to these videos. All the perspectives can give you a really comprehensive understanding of how he played for anyone willing to study it. Personally I try to base many aspects of my playing on his technique and these videos are priceless in that way. For the angles his face, I mean, besides him being gorgeous it’s great to watch him in his trance as he pulls you inside the music together.
total master
Wonderful. Love the view of Gould and his keyboard and conducting.
Surprised the piano is not on the floor.
He plays the piano as if his fingers are touching your heart❤
Необыкновенно... Гений!
How the heck does he memorize all of that? Amazing.
The music Is him
Гленн это целый мир, со своей музыкой, идеями, мыслями, чувствами… он приглашает нас в свой дивный мир
The first 4 minutes felt like my ears were being made love to. Exquisite!
Muchas gracias por compartir!!!
Adoro sua autonomia . É genuíno!
14:52 Berg
@11:12 YOU HAD TO BE THE BIG MAN!
😁
Como se puede tocar así el piano😃😃😱😃😱
If you hear the Schonberg Suite without realizing what it is after the Byrd you realize just a little how marvelous Schonberg iz! That pf concerto ? Poor Edward Steurmann - he really loved this stuff . His programmes are completely composers who were living in his time I wonder what these Gibbons Pavane sound like on a guitar as a pianist I know those tinny chamber room keyboards of the late 16th century couldn't sustain pitches like this ...but this is the ideal music he makes out of them !Ive never heard Gibbons or Byrd in a recital programme . Pianists should start playing music the average person can like . A 3 or 4 movement Sonata is too formal . Ive seen 19th century programmes all these small trifles then a singer then a violinist and cellist then the orchestra or neighborhood quartet or trio play . Wow . Now that the average person is so poorly educated we could easily go back to this even if ther is only a single performer .
Looks like artificial intelligence at work: suggested video "Glenn Gould Plays Gibbons..." followed by "Baboons are not Pets!" which I also found to be moving and profound.
Спасибо,чудесно
With the Berg and Webern maybe Glenn is just having fun with us un-initiated. I sure wouldn't know the difference.
Кто сказал Бога нет.. Смотрите Слушайте БЛАГОГОВЕЙТЕ...
Like Yehudi Menuhin, I’m at a loss on how to appreciate Schoenberg’ s music!
Ive tried to get my head round it for a few years and im only beginning to get it now.
Love the random cat walk starting at 5:52
Please let me know if you know the works number.
The hostility still directed towards Schoenberg's music is difficult for me to understand. For me it's always been powerfully expressive expressionistic music - it's now over 100 years old and just as much a classic as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc.and is treated as such by most educated musicians everywhere.
People are still stuck with harmonic and melodic thoughts of the romantic era and incapable of realising that art music has moved on a long time ago.
I take on faith that his music is better than it sounds.
Because it's only noise:
Give us something easy to sing to
Give us something simple to cling to
Something we can all understand
Said the company man
Oh yeah
We sing
I love Schoenberg because he was different and the same for Gould . Arnold Schoenberg had to wait for the world to catch up to the music . The masses were behind .
The problem with Schoenberg's music is that he tries to extend music into atonal structure, but then sticks with Western scales, which to me makes the whole exercise pointless. I find music of people like John Cage vastly more interesting. Take this for example: th-cam.com/video/snTc5zByQ98/w-d-xo.html
best.
I'm just not ready..
He should have recorded Gibbons and Byrd just as extensively as he did with Bach, instead of just the one recording he made......
I wish he had recorded more of this music also, and it's puzzling to me that he had expressed such a dislike of so much of Mozart but recorded all the Sonatas while Gibbons, whom he said was his favorite composer, he only recorded a few pieces.
the first piece?
This video is fine, everyone calm tf down
Can you write a playlist of these pieces your information box?
I never liked Berg sonata until I hear it here by Gould.
Gibbons , apology of frustration
Can somebody tell me which are the pieces he plays?
Look up,you could see
Considering that Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg's music is about 100 years old, ... it is quite remarkable that the audience here, still pretty uniformly disdains it as 'modern',... random, and dissonant... (remembering my 6th grade music teacher in 1964 claiming the Beatles were doing nothing more than screaming and would be forgotten in less than a year)....wonder what she thought of 'modern music'.
Contrary to Paul West's comment, I think it might be rather difficult to pull off a pseudo- 12 tone piece, if one really didn't know what one was doing,... however detecting the difference, between the Schoenberg, and the Webern , in this case could be quite difficult especially without looking at the video, and seeing the camera angle change,... on the other hand the Berg quite stands out from the other two atonalist pieces preceding it! If it wasn't supposed to be serious, Gould's histrionics, and antics at the keyboard for the 'Atonal' works would certainly compete with John Cleese doing "the Ants communicating the location of crumbs with one another" sketch , for sheer hilarity! I think Gould might even appreciate that! Now I'll have to relisten to the Gibbons again, I'll need more than a few moments for my early 20th century angst to dissipate....
Geopholus The Berg sonata stands out because it is not atonal. The sonata is rooted in B minor with many chromatic extrapolations.
music should satisfy the mind and ear. atonality might satisfy the mind but not the ear so its not music
Do you find Beethoven’s Große Fuge pleasing to hear? Your answer to that question might complicate your definition of music.
@@veronicaconnolly4542so now it’s you to decide what is music and what is not?
5:52 schoenberg
I've no idea :)
thanks for this video clip. what are the name of the pieces he plays ?
You could see up to the third comment and take your answer)
I don't know much modern atonal music but thinking I may be ready for it now - to me an important measure of any art is how well does it represent "reality" as we know it - orderly predictable music has its place but the unpredictable kind can affirm that one is not totally insane for finding "reality" to be pretty weird. My only grudge against Gould is now I'm not in love with Robert Plant any more.
Just google "Bruno Monsangeon" and you'll find it soon.
Right...there's no Bach here...I forget to change title
Abundant, clever clogs is not a Schonburger, it’s a Steinbeck. Now put the kettle on and make me a brew!
I don't know
is the CD 318?
I read that this was in 1974, it could be CD318 but it would be after it was seriously damaged and repaired.
He definitely didn't read music just eidetically photographed it in his memory and the music wasn't notated it was felt. Didn't like his humming though but he had to do it otherwise he couldn't play
are there any seasoned schönberg listeners? does it get easy? I just don't understand how can anyone enjoy such music. his verklarte nacht being one exception I personally know of, I can't tell if it's music or not.
I think the further Schoenberg distanced himself from Gurrelieder the better it became . Some of the better works are Transfigured night and Five pieces for Orchestra .
5:52 the way Gould is playing these wonderful pieces is scandalous .
Not a pianist , a fridge . Forgetting all the lyrical and emotionnal side of these romantic moments ....
The Webern is especially far from what the composer intended, if we trust the testimony of the pianist who premiered the work.
The camera should be on the keyboard.
When was this recorded?
about 1976
listed as 1974
Really!?
Under Gould fingers Byrd sounds like Tchaikovsky.
To each his own but for me not only no but HELL NO!
For me, HELL YES1
why does he have to play schoenberg right after gibbons and byrd :(
good news fam, it grew on me
@@samanthayork3125 In a way, you answered your own question! :)
I always thought Schoenberg sounds like arbitrary piano noodling, like something you can just make up off the cuff and 98% of most listeners wouldn't even know the difference. Of course, one would need to be a reasonably skilled pianist, but I'll bet it could be pulled off pretty convincingly.
If you stretch your imagination to recognize the unusual musical shapes then it can be quite enjoyable and intricate. For example: I like to think that it's classical musics version of hip hop. I can see the music making gangster faces and what have you, hehe. But anyway, give it an honest try. Cause it's actually pretty hard to get it to sound like a meaningful story/dialogue when it's so dissonant. Attempt and compare.
Schoenberg, and the other Second V School composers are hacks compared to composers like John Cage, or Ryoji Ikeda. I mean, if you want to go atonal, don't go half way! Why be stuck using Western chromatic scales, when there is a world of sound sources to use?
I don't really understand all this, but your comment made more sense than most "sophisticated" ones here.
What a waste of Gould! He could play Bach instead and i would be much better. Music isn't about MATH!! Music is something that touches you without any analysis. Stravinsky's music is modern and yet beautiful. You enjoy just by listening to it. But what do you find in THIS music except of smart formulas? nothing
stravinsky himself became a twelve tone composer
It doesn't make any difference. schoenberg himself wrote beautiful romantic pieces himself before he wrote this music.
The harmony in Schoenberg is some of the most expressive ever written. If you think it's about maths, you have severely missed the point.
Maybe is compositions in free atonality are expressive. The 12 tone tow is mostly about math
אברהם מילר Have you had any form of musical training? Just curious, because if you've ever studied the music, you would surely know that to be a mythicised fallacy.
To each his own but for me not only no but HELL NO!