Gould plays Beethoven Sonata Op.27 No.1 (1st mov.)

[zecalixto]

@thetunr where is the other moviments?

[thetunr]

@zecalixto

In the original CD.

[MrAzdigs]

to the non-musician these pieces can be boring...Gould is not boring....wish he would sing louder tho.

[grThetrojan01gr]

I like Gould's recordings but with this one I've got a little "problem"... it's a sforzando at 5:04 but he's doing a diminuendo...

[enriquem90]

I must to play this sonate this yeard, Is the 4th movement on youtube played by Gould?

[Daphnis1402]

I'm very respectuous of Gould, but what a joke! really!!! ahahahahahah

[Daphnis1402]

I' very respectuous of Gould, but what a joke! really!!! ahahahahahah

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

what a wonderful bach!

[musicalidea]

@newFranzFerencLiszt I think you have got it. This seems to be the gist of Gould's indisputably intentional mis-rendering.

[Raggedy9]

Gould is always interesting (and sometimes fascinating) to listen to. What he intentionally ignores here is that Beethoven indicated note lengths with extreme precision; he could (and did) indicate the differences between a sustained quarter note, a slightly detached quarter note, a dotted 8th note with a 16th note rest, an 8th note with an 8th note rest, etc. Gould's intentional flouting of Beethoven's notation is perverse. Look at the score and you will see what I mean.

[Whizzer1416]

Not Gould's best !!! Needs more Beethoven and less Gould

[alexjrmarino]

Does it really matter rather it'is right or wrong..What matters really is bravura.. think a bit..Beethoven would be proud of that guy who can play his music so beautifully , a way he hasn't thought of..

[devitry67]

Tempo matters. The Andante of this Sonata has a 2/2 measure. This marking indicates the movement should be played Alla breve. Gould's interpretation is wrong.

[Bolinas1971]

@devitry67

gould lived in the twentieth century, lovechum, and brought lugwig with him. x

[iroveashe]

@devitry67 I would say Gould being wrong is better than countless other pianist being right.

[devitry67]

Makes me laugh!

[quinto34]

Lots of people are obsessed with tempi..

thank god Gould wasn´t

[MrNobleSavagery]

wow, very odd. Not terrible, but certainly unorthodox. I suppose when we want to listen to Beethoven we can turn to Schnabel, Kempff, Pollini, Brendel or Richter.

[Bolinas1971]

@MrNobleSavagery eat more something or rather your brain WILL cauliflower. x

[hermanshermits124124]

@MrNobleSavagery haha indeed :)

[alvasch]

Good music and performance to begin a day with

[TheLovelyPiano]

That's Glenn for ya. Jazz it up a little. Very cool.

At least it's at the tempo that I used to play it too. lol

[lyralary]

Ahrg!!!! It's shit!!

Brendel I love you...

[IanPianist2]

This is BEETHOVEN!! Not bach Glenn Gould u.u

[superbemaison]

Well said!

Is he practicing Czerny etudes or what?

Brendel and Barenboim are references!!

[dtarni]

its kinda difficult to find this entire piece online. anyway i did this for my ATCL just last dec! haha

[piazzonga]

Argh!

[gwozdezzz]

GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!

[thecritiquevirtuoso]

I think Gould should take his counterpoint elsewhere... it's horrendous... Ludwig would be rolling his grave.

[kepler101]

yeah ludwig did hate counterpoint that why he learned the entire well tempered clavier when he was kid.

[thecritiquevirtuoso]

and I see that you are very well acquainted with sarcasm... well done!

[hermanshermits124124]

@kepler101 terribly wrong. He loved bach and studied him very much in his later years. He went to the library and learned alot from Bach. Listen to his later sonatas and you can hear the counterpoint everywhere.

[enriquem90]

@kepler101 Beethoven hate counterpoint w w w what? hammerklavier? grosse fugue?

[ljy559]

okaaay...my teacher taught me to play like, 2 times faster than this...

[77orchidjim]

@ljy559

That's OK.  Lots of teachers are idiots...

[77orchidjim]

@ljy559

That's OK. Lots of teachers are idiots...

When you're as good as Gould, you can play like this!

[ferduccio]

you have to listen to this piece at least 3 times to understand its beauty. Strange but awsome.

[tchebinai71]

Yes; The first time i heard his appassionata 1, i said " but, that's really awful ! " And now i find it tells another story .

[prismsmiles]

I wonder if beethoven would have fainted at hearing this or liked it.

[dorianmarkovac]

hes singing in the background lol

[Politikonboard]

omg i stopped listening after the first few bars lol

[thetunr]

Why? There are so few pianists who can understand Beethoven's humour and brilliantly convey it to the listener. OK, the old and good tradition is elsewhere, but who cares? :)

[gwozdezzz]

hell YES!!!

[MaBu888]

I think his slow parts are to slow and the fast are just fine raves.

[danman745]

@Politikonboard simple does not = simplistic. You also have to understand what Beethoven is trying to do

[Politikonboard]

@danman745 @thetunr @KV467 @alexjrmarino You are all defending Gould, but you must not actually know this piece. He is rewriting Beethoven. I'm not saying it doesn't work, or it isn't artistic, but its not Beethoven and Beethoven is such a good composer you don't need to add anything eccentric to his music.

[EMPERORMIKI]

@Politikonboard What you mean is he didn't perform it like most ever have ... he is executing the music written by Beethoven and is therefore performing Beethoven.

[EMPERORMIKI]

@EMPERORMIKI Well thats a terrible analogy this piece consists of far more than 2 notes ... and ornamentation was acceptable at the time. Even Beethoven would have approved of that.

[aubreyprosper1994]

@Politikonboard Gould always tried to bring a fresh approach to all his performances. He said, what's the point in playing if I'm not going to innovate? Music is change. Gould was a radical. I think that Beethoven would perhaps not enjoy this performance, but he would appreciate it.

[musicalidea]

@Politikonboard With the hyperbolic austerity of the tenuto articulation, I understand why. But I think Gould, who never even attempted to conquer the Beethoven repertoire or stand as one of its canonical interpreters, is playing that rarely defiant role here not of one who renders a composer's work as the composer wished it to sound, but as a piece of his own, thereby creating a new work altogether: an anachronistic, Baroque Beethoven; an animatronic Beethoven.