Gould/Beethoven Sonata No.3 in C Major op.2, No.3
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2021
- All the evenings spent with Glenn Gould in his studio at the Hotel Inn on the Park in Don Mills (20 minutes from downtown Toronto), the very place where he was going to suffer the stroke three years later, are well and truly anchored in my memory. One of them remains particularly rich emotionally. It was in the fall of 1979, a gray and rainy evening as he loved them so much. As usual, I had taken a few records with me (vinyl, obviously - the compact disc was not yet invented) including a rather rare version of the Concerto in E flat major written by Beethoven when he was only 12 or 13 years old. Gould had never heard it before and he was curious to find what it sounded like. After having carefully listened to the entire Concerto Glenn contented himself with a single comment, brief and definitive: "Without interest"! Then, to my surprise, he spontaneously asks me: "Would you like to hear my last recording? I just finished editing it". You can imagine that I was not going to refuse such an offer. Without telling me what it was, he gets up and installs the quarter inch tape on his beautiful professional Studer machine. He then invites me to sit in the middle of the room to hear the stereo sound emanating from his two large speakers. The work lasted a good half an hour and it was a Beethoven Sonata.
Believe it or not, I was not familiar with this sonata but I dared not admit it to a convinced Glenn Gould that I knew for a fact it was the very beautiful Sonata op.2 no 3. At the end of the audition in which no words were spoken -Gould had fixed his gaze on me from the corner of the studio where he had settled, near the long black draperies, making the mood so dark and almost sad, a typical setting of the Gouldian environment, Glenn asks me candidly: "So, what do you think?" What could I answer to such a question coming from the pianist I admired the most in the world and who had just given me an absolutely transcendent, almost surreal experience. "Just superb," I simply said.
"I'm glad you liked it", said Gould. Adding: "You know, Daniel, that Beethoven Sonata goes way back in my life". Indeed it did. It was the very first one he played in public. As a teenager he had played the final movement in a mini-recital for his fellow students at the Conservatory in 1946 (Oct.28). He then played the whole sonata six months later in a complete recital including works by Haydn, Bach, Chopin and Mendelssohn. And that's it. Never again, until the recording he just made me listen to before it was released by Columbia months later. To this day, whenever I listen to it, I still get goose bumps thinking of that autumn evening spent with a man that so inspired my life.
Here it is, in its original version, not remastered.
Just the way we heard it, Glenn and I.
I. Allegro con brio 7'29"
II. Adagio 12'45"
III. Scherzo. Adagio 3'30"
IV. Allegro assai 5'25"
Recorded in Toronto, August 1976 & August 1979
I grew up in Detroit. I saw Glenn Gould several times in performance there. He also gave recitals at the Stratford festival in Ontario. He certainly was eccentric, what with his noisy chair, loud singing, outrageous posture and unkempt appearance. My mother taught piano. She said Gould broke every rule, but she was nonetheless one of his biggest fans. "Only Glenn Gould can get away with what he does," she said. He was a genius of the first order. His performances were completely original, but totally captivating. This performance of the Beethoven Sonata No. 3 fits with the way I remember him. To say its unconventional is an understatement. But it's convincing in its own way. Thanks so much for bringing it to today's audience that needs to hear more of this unique, fascinating man. I don't think there will ever be another musician like him.
One may comment or critisize whatever concerning Gould, but one thing is certain - Glenn Gould was, is and will be an AMAZING musician in the best sense of this word. Listening him is such a joy and satisfaction.
Lucky you got to meet Glenn Gould in person!
What an incredible, fantastic performance of this piece, composed in 1795 and dedicated to Haydn, with its unexpected bits of modernity that must have delightfully driven people crazy back then. Still does today, 226 years later.
Everything Beethoven marked legato, he plays staccato. Everything marked staccato, he plays legato.
Got it.
Mr. Rebel.
Of course, it's no "real" Beethoven.
Schnabel, his idol, gave the ultimate thing.
And in front of the definitive Statue of the Commandeur Artur, Glenn re-invents LvB.
It's a complete fake, but it's beautiful.
And after all, at the time of the young Gould, it was a free world, wasn't it ?
Grazie.
How wonderful for you.
Refreshing and different than others, but ingenious. I like it very much.
00:00 I. Allegro con brio
07:29 II. Adagio
20:18 III. Scherzo: Allegro
23:47 IV. Allegro assai
Grazie un documento prezioso.il 2 movimento interessante piena di sentimento con un fraseggio particolare .Fantastico Gould!!!
Extraordinary performance, "Just superb" indeed!
And also, a very touching story....
Абсолютный ГЕНИЙ!!!🎹🎹🎹
My favorite of all the Beethoven sonatas, and my favorite rendition.
Très différent de la partition et des autres grands interprètes, mais c'est Gould, donc époustouflant
One of my favorite sonatas, played so beautifully, best recording of it i have ever heard...
RIP Daniel Poulin
Без слов. ГЕНИАЛЬНО!!!
Well its different . Have issues with the second movement. Staccato when others play legato and the slowness and terseness is not for me. But I love Gould 's
desire to experiment .The other movements are superb and few play it with his clarity and preciseness.
I am a physician and watched a documentary on Glenn which stated his mother had several miscarriages before she had Glenn. The fact he had a massive stroke at age 50 could be related to his mothers miscarriages. It could be a sign of a heritable clotting disorder which can cause what happened to his mother and to him. Much less was known about this when Glenn died. Today we have anticoagulants which can prevent such a tragedy.
You think if they had those in Glenn’s time he would still be alive, and I could call him for an interview?
Thank you for your medical opinion, Dr Bookbinder. I have always hypothesized that Glenn's massive stroke at only 50 was a manifestation of the same hereditary disorder that killed his mother. When people speculate that Glenn was a hypochondriac because of his obsession with his health in his later years, he may well have had reason to be concerned.
I really like these stories. they add so much to each post. I would love to read more. Is there a blog?
Not my favorite but delightful nonetheless. It's Beethoven's last sonatas played by Glenn Gould, of course- that I adore. Thank you for a glimpse into Glenn's inner sanctum.
Gould's last complete Beethoven Sonata was no.12, the A-flat major op.26, recorded in September 1979, released by Columbia in 1983.
I actually don’t really like Glenn playing Beethoven.
piacevole
Thanks for sharing this story. Gould's recording of this sonata was my first hearing of the piece as well. I think I also remember reading that he had begun recording Beethoven's B-flat major sonata op.22 before he died. Would you happen to know anything about that?
He never played op.22 -at least that we know of. However, he was planning to record all Beethoven sonatas, eventually.
He once said that while he loved the early Beethoven sonatas, he considered Op. 22 to be the dud in the batch.
Correction: it is true that he recorded parts of op.22 (second and fourth movements); however, it is unreleased and dormant in Sony Vaults.
@@danielpoulin9030 Then someone find them. It’d be interesting
Как обычно, исключительная исполнения.
Thank you so much for sharing your story, it’s always a joy to hear stories about Gould.
I’ve read in his biography that this particular recording (and some others that he did in his later years) were made on a Yamaha, rather than on his famous Steinway, cause apparently it was damaged during a transportation.
Is it true?
Gould began playing on a Yamaha piano in 1981. His first recording using it was the Haydn Sonatas. He also recorded some Brahms (Ballades), Strauss (Sonata op.5), Beethoven (Sonata No.13) and of course the Goldberg Variations. The Beethoven Sonata op.2 No.3 was done in 1979, on a Steinway.
Il più grande interprete della storia, per quanto riguarda il gruppo dell'op. 2, è Glenn Gould. Affiancato, proprio nell'op. 2 n. 3, da Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, il quale da un approccio del tutto diverso raggiunge esiti parimenti eccelsi. Tra le giovani generazioni c'è la meravigliosa Valentina Lisitsa: sintesi tra Schnabel, Gould e Michelangeli.
Hmmm interesting conversation! How did you and Glenn come to meet?
Through the CBC. I was working for Radio-Canada in Toronto for 20 years.
@@danielpoulin9030 I assume the way to meet introverted Canadian pianists is through working in radio stations…
@@pianosbloxworld4460 yea
@@danielpoulin9030 Probably the most envious position anyone could ever have been in. A very good book theme upon which someone could write, and probably be successful - "Those who met and interacted with Glenn Gould". Get with it, authors.
@@normangensler7380 There are at least two: "The Idea of Gould" by Rhona Bergman, as well as "Remembering Glenn Gould, Twenty Interviews with People who knew Him" by Colin Eatock. Both are kind of hard to find, especially the second one. Both are excellent.
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Is this real music, or the loneliness of a pathological ruined soul ?
Is this a real comment, or the babbling of a clueless self-infatuated ignoramus?
The only movement worth listening to is,the last one. Everything else is childish mutilation. I take it in my chronologic playlist for historic reasons. Artistically spoken: this is pure shit. An ego that abuses Beethoven to satisfy himself. Nothing more, nothing less. Period.
Why are you so wicked?