Friday, May 1, 2009

Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations

I'm not much of a "serious" music buff, but there's something wonderful about Gould's performance of Bach's piece(s). The piano is so named for its dynamic possibilities, and Gould demonstrates precisely why. Never noisy, never busy, just a marvelous musical texture from beginning to end. If unbridled praise is the mark of the dilettante, then I'm guilty as charged, but no one should go to their grave without listening to these at least once. I like to watch Gould's mouth move and try to imagine the electrochemical fireworks that must have been going off in his brain as he played.

RATING: Off the chart%

(Image from drewhewitt.co.uk.)

9 comments:

DCP said...

I'm surprised I've never listened to Gould perform the Goldberg, since a) his name is Glenn and b) he's Canadian. Also, it's supposed to be amazing, but that's c.

McT's Girlfriend said...

My two favorite pianists are Glenn Gould and Daniel Barenboim . Both are super-good for sure. Their performances of Bach’s Goldberg Variations are like no other. Some aficionados say that Gould’s work offers more artistic interpretation; while Barenboim plays with greater technical perfection. Either way that’s OK with me. If I don’t read the CD liner, I really can’t tell if it’s one or the other playing.

My view is that Gould is idolized more partly because he’s dead. No way for him to skip a note or two and screw up now. But some go so far as to say he is the only twentieth-century performing musician who’ll still be listened to a hundred or more years from now. For sure I don’t know if that’ll happen. But it’s OK with me if it does. One thing I don’t like about Gould though is the way he looks. It’s kind of a weird look. You know with his slouch and nodding head and everything.
Barenboim, who’s also a renowned conductor, looks classy and sexy. His physical appearance and mannerisms aren't distracting like Gould's are.

John said...

Bertha, I think you're just reinforcing the stereotype that overweight, ignorant women have the power to change whenever they want to, when in fact pervasive patriarchy is denying them access to education and healthy foods like brown rice, lettuce, and broccoli.

Also, Canadians are ugly. It's our "thing."

Canadian Woman said...

Speak for yourself, Canucklehead. I'm gorgeous!

John said...

God, I was drunk when I wrote that. I'm only half joking, though. Primatologists and evolutionary psychologists, trying to answer the question, "Why is patriarchy so much nastier in the human species?" have suggested that patriarchy in our early ancestors took a distinct step up when we switched from foraging to hunting and gathering. In most other primate species the females feed themselves, but once male hunters started bringing home the meat they also started using it to manipulate everyone else.

So it's not the asparagus you've gotta worry about, it's the hamburgers. Speaking of which I walked up to the Jack in the Box drive thru window last night and they told me they weren't allowed to serve me because I didn't have a car.

McT's Girlfriend said...

Did you get Jack’s new mini sirloin burgers? They’re awesome. Three don’t even fill me up even with large fries and a chicken teriyaki bowl. That’s OK with me. Lots of room for some NY style cheesecake and mini churros. Couldn’t leave without a takeout order of regular beef tacos and an Oreo cookie ice cream shake. Yummy for sure.

laurie said...

I think it's pretty obvious who's the real genius here at R3.

John said...

Satan, obviously.

McT's Girlfriend said...

I don’t like to comment too often cuz that’s like going for seconds and I don’t like to do that, but I stumbled upon this amazing video. If you like Twinkies and Oreos (and who doesn’t???) and deep fryers you are going to love this. I just had to share it with you. I hope that’s OK. I’ll be trying this tonight for sure.