Glenn Gould plays Die Meistersinger (excerpt)

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

Most people will probably think I'm crazy for saying this but this rendition on piano with Gould playing is more enjoyable than the original for me

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

It's taken me forever to figure this out but the captions for this video are wrong when he says "literal and exact". He doesn't say "inexact" the first time, he says "exact". And when he says "un-inexact" he's not using the word in a double negative sense to actually mean exact, but rather he was correcting himself because "unexact" is not a word.

[wonsuckchoi]

This is an awesome rendition of the masterpiece.

[f1f1s]

3:43-3:45 belong to the most notable seconds of musical history.

I have been searching for them for a year, listened to Gould’s rendition of Bach’s D-moll concerto (1052), stuck and did not listen to anything except for Bach’s 1052 every day (!). This is the power of monsieur Gould. Finally I find this damn video!

Again, 3:43!.. Opera singers will go bankrupt! U jelly mr Pavarotty? MR GOULD, U MAD!

[AlexderKeks]

I need to honour monsieur monsaingeon, because he also made this possible. wonderful transcription of this masterpiece

[Stupurmundi]

I love lunatics and Glenn was one without any doubt. But where would humanity be today without lunatics? They force us to think things over. To get a different point of view. And do not forget, they are often victims of their way to live and their ambitions. James Robert Fischer was a lunatic as well...

[petezilla]

I want a score of his transcription

[ultrazvek100]

@petezilla look at this

soupu.org/gdp//W/Wagner,%20Ric­hard/Wagner%20Gould%20Meisters­inger-Vorspiel.pdf

[petezilla]

@ultrazvek100 hmm, I'm getting a 404 not found in Chinese

[ultrazvek100]

@petezilla try to search for this in Google: der meistersinger gould pdf

[petezilla]

@ultrazvek100 Got it!! Thanks : )

[kenkim5]

"Beyreuth lives on...sort of." Love it.

[AVIDEOGAL]

INTERESTING CHARACTER HE CREATED FOR HIMSELF - PORTRAYING ON "OUT TO LUNCH" IDIOT, ANNOYINGLY SINGING ALONG, RUINING THE PERFORMANCE- SO WE'D THINK HE IS "SOOOOO" FAR OUT THERE AND UNATTAINABLE TO UNDERSTAND, THAT HE IS THE MOST SUPERIOR OF QUIRKY GENIUS - WHAT AN ACT - HE IS TOO FUNNY - GREAT PLAYER, BUT I ALWAYS WISHED HE WOULD SHUT THE FUCK UP WHEN HE PLAYS.........

[MegaPetrof]

@AVIDEOGAL Right on!

[MrTIRILLY]

Quel veinard Bruno MONSAINGEON d'être à coté d'un tel prodige !

[mecomoxa]

Gould!, che uomo!

[yvesvangelre]

The first few times this is great to hear, but on the long run these gents together are getting annoying fruity. Can someone make a more masculin cut somewhere?

[kaynanLisboa]

OH! Amazing That! I always Dreamed to have concentration like this, he's so genius, so concentrated. very good!!!

[KingMinosxxvi]

such a weird brilliant wonderful little man

[bianchic235]

i think no conductor or musician succeeded to make Wagner so lightly  delightful as Gould in his (unfortunately) few transcriptions.

[TheCookie30]

BRILLIANT!!

[MsYogib]

BRILLIANT!!!!

[MathijsGiltjes1993]

He kinda remembers me of Hans Teeuwen. 

[cameronsanati]

0:15 is that german or english??

[str3123]

@cameronsanati gernglish... LOL!

[cameronsanati]

this guy is a genius :O

[larryraiken]

The more I hear Gould, the more I appreciate and (gasp) really like his music!

[liszrichter]

i like the sound of it.

wanna hear some?

[minasgekos]

and he ends with : "ok!" lol Glenn Gould was truly unique.

[mmcrosbie]

I wonder his Gould's transposition is available to other pianists today. Did you get this published or was this limited to his personal collection? Very clever, but it was Glenn Gould.

[TripleRhu]

gould speaks weird

[Tyronethe24th]

What an amazing performance we have just witnessed. I have paid good money to sit in concert halls for less inspiring music than I have just seen for free on YouTube. Also, you have to love the all-whote background -- so early 70s, so THX-1138.

[BrucknerMotet]

@Tyronethe24th Funny comment about the THX 1138 white background in this Gould video. I half expect some Class-7 control room operator to suspect that Gould is "off his meds" and initiate a "mind lock" on Gould midway through his performance. He'd be singing along with the music as usual and then his eyes would roll back into his head like Robert Duvall's and we'd have a serious mind lock situation on our hands.

[Altsaemisch]

The interviewer seems to think he is in a bar: YOU SHALL NOT LEAN ON THE STEINWAY!

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

@Altsaemisch lol

[oklahomma]

@Altsaemisch I agree. Pianos are not furniture items!

[Matteo7419]

@Altsaemisch You ought to know that these documentaries were decided in every detail by Monsaingeon and Gould together, so, if he was in this position the reason was that it had been decided by both him and Gould that it was the best position for the scene. Any other commentary doesn't make sense... ;)

[petezilla]

annoying interviewer: "Meistersinger?"

GG: "What else?!" (Translation: shut your face and listen!!)

This sounds so great, I'm so amazed at how good he was at shaping everything he played, he is never just doodling around with it.

[str3123]

@petezilla the "annoying interviewer" is bruno monsaingeon. If you can listen ahd watch to this video, and if we know what we know about Gould (and many other great musicians), is just thanks to this man.

[petezilla]

@str3123 Yea that makes sense, it was just the impression I got because I wouldn't have said a word when he started playing piano.

[str3123]

@petezilla Yea, I also got the same impression xD

Btw, it's not easy to forget that "What else?!". Gould has an amazing personality, anyone would say "yes, it is". Saw this some days ago in the complete interview and I remembered Gould replying "What else?!" while I was walking the street. lol

[petezilla]

@str3123 Haha this is very true and interesting about him, he never said anything that didn't carry a lot of meaning and also showed his deep passion for whatever musical subject he might have been talking about

[petezilla]

@petezilla which is also what makes it seem like there is such a sharp contrast between these two people: a rather mundane question followed by a very meaningful answer.

I love how excited he is to play it for him, though "would like to hear some?" with a huge smile

[str3123]

@petezilla OMG! Man I've found the whole interview, finally! I'm so happy! Search for "Glenn GOULD - Il Ritiro 1/5".

[Matteo7419]

@petezilla You don't know anithing about the collaboration between Gould and Monsaingeon, otherwise you didn't make such idiot commentaries. Monsaingeon was the only one allowed to film GG and the text of their documentaries was prepared before filming. You schut up and listen... ;)

[petezilla]

@Matteo7419 Right, I've got it. Don't call strangers idiots with bad grammar and spelling.

[composerdoh]

I wish I could hear the orchestra in his head....

sublime.

[wnaenni]

Excerpt!!  Thank you,it's great!!

[MrTIRILLY]

C'est tout simplement fabuleux. Si nous étions tous comme Glenn GOULD, le monde serait parfait. WAGNER aurait été surpris par cette conception idyllique.

[TheSingingCello]

I love it, he's crazy!

[Huddiethegreat]

This is what makes Wagner great

[physphilmusic]

I don't see why people often complain about Gould humming, especially here. Gould's humming is what I normally do when I listen to music as beautiful as this as well, only that I restrain myself from doing it in public so loud. When I'm watching and listening to this video at home, I find myself humming or even singing loudly the same lines as Gould is doing!

[mercoid]

un-inexact....

[mmcrosbie]

Very interesting and amazing and really not that far from the orchestral version.

[Slashgordon5]

3:43 BAAAAAA BAA BAAA!

[MrTIRILLY]

Tout simplement sublime.

[gerardbedecarter]

A nice arrangement. I'm not crazy about the vocal obbligato, though!

[ytekay]

As always, I enjoy Gould singing along just as much (if not more) as his playing. I am absolutely in love with him. :)

[hyperseauton]

Ok, I never understood why Gould did adapt Wagner...probably the strangest thing he ever did in his career and I own the complete recordings of Gould.

Wagner for the piano? Come on! I take this as a musical joke and I think it was intended to be that way by Gould.

[Cancrizans]

@hyperseauton If you hear the passion in his playing you can see it isn't a musical joke. :) If you consider Gould's interests it is obvious that Wagner fits into his vision perfectly. Wagner's music is filled with counterpoint and extremely detailed musical themes and connections, many of which are not immediately apparent in orchestral performances. Gould wished to share with us, as he did on so many other occasions, an inner reality in the music many of us are not aware of.

[JekyllBoote]

Strange, when you think about it, that Wagner himself was extremely limited as a pianist (and, unlike Gould, did not have perfect pitch).

This just makes the contrapuntal miracles of the Meistersinger Prelude all the more amazing!

[bets36]

@JekyllBoote yes, as well as a lot of composers (Debussy who was a poor pianist or Ravel who was not a virtuoso pianist). I believe that they give their life for composition and did not train enough.

[JekyllBoote]

@bets36

Was Debussy really such a poor pianist? I've not heard that before, but I wouldn't automatically dismiss it out of hand. I need to do a bit of research!

My original point was this, though: what's remarkable about Wagner is not that he wasn't a virtuoso pianist (which clearly involves more commitment of time and effort than most aspiring composers are prepared to make), or even an averagely good one; it's that he could barely play at all.

[24foxstar]

@bets36 Very true! Because a great new work is worth a hundred good performances!

[hundingwelser]

what else!

[VenancioPineda]

Who is that guy with the glasses which appears often besides Gould?

[micheldvorsky]

Bruno Monsaingeon. He's a French violinist who's made some terrific documentaries on Gould and other great musicians like Richter, Oistrakh, and Menuhin.

[StuporMundiUtriusque]

Das groesste Genie aller Zeiten!

[guinguette07]

who ? Wagner ?

[scriabin007]

interessant.....aber irgendwie seltsam, dass Gould einen " Aufpasser" braucht, der am Klavier steht und dumm schaut!!

[minasgekos]

i'd wish he had transposed the whole ouverture and record it.

[lacteprealable]

@minasgekos well he did, and it's on youtube, look for it;, he used multitracks; the fugue is flabbergasting

[minasgekos]

@lacteprealable yes i found it thank you. He recorded with multitracks? are you sure? because it seems to me that there's only one piano in the recording.

[giobia88]

-meistersingers?

-what else...

[dercrazykraut]

Now I got five words for this: GLENN GOULD IS THE DUDE!! (And of course Richard Wagner is the MAIN DUDE...!) This is like some alchemistic transformation of heavy bloodred wine into weightless liquid silver - proving that there's so much more to Wagner's unbelievable music than just a load of harmonic and instrumental overkill! Man, I'd love to hear the whole opera in this version (with Glenn Gould singing the vocal lines like "dee-dee-ja-daaa-PA-PA-PA-PAAA­AA!!!"... LOL!)

[Gusakov]

Unique Pianist !

Identically remarkably and non-standard played music of Baсh and Wagner, Beethoven and Brahms....

Thank you for video.

[SpottyDorsord]

I think it's very impressive and very funny. He would have been a good friend.

[iorixs]

why couldnt he just keep quiet

[ryofurue]

The Meistersinger prelude is the best and greatest polyphonic music not written by J. S. Bach. I think that was the main attraction to Mr Gould. Notice how the polyphonic structure of the music is much clearer here than in orchestral performances.

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

@ryofurue I was thinking the same thing. Although the colors of the orchestra are a part of what makes this piece great, I love how clear everything is on the piano.

[KABRIS1]

@ryofurue You are entirely correct. I've always loved this piece. Thank you for saying that. I've never heard anyone say that before. It's a great example of counterpoint and Gould's ability to expose the melodic lines.I played this piece in an orchestra but, I've never heard the lines so clearly defined.

[sarastro1791]

Verachtet mir die Meister nicht und ehrt mir ihre Kunst..!

[debr03fy]

aus dem wikipedia artikel zu einer schrift von wagner:

Was „der gebildete Jude auszusprechen habe, „wenn er künstlerisch sich kundgeben wolle, könne „nur das Gleichgültige und Triviale sein, weil sein ganzer Trieb zur Kunst ja nur ein luxuriöser, unnötiger sei. Wagner geht dabei insbesondere auf Mendelssohn Bartholdy ein, dem schon Heine 1842 „mangelnde Naivität zugesprochen hatte.

so viel zum thema verachtung von meistern.

[dercrazykraut]

Nun ja, eins ist mal sicher: Wenn Musiker denn Mund aufmachen, kommt meistens Scheiße raus. (Ich bin wohlgemerkt selbst Musiker, ich weiß wovon ich hier spreche...) Es kann schon sein, dass Richard Wagner ein totaler Saftsack war; aber als Komponist und Dichter war der Mann einfach nur ein GOTT!

[debr03fy]

Wagner als einen Gott zu bezeichnen ist alberner Quatsch. Er war zwar nicht völlig unfähig, aber er war definitiv nicht der fähigste Komponist.

Ob es etwas mit Konequenz zu tun hat Wagners Kompositionen aus politischen Gründen zu meiden bleibt wohl jedem selbst überlassen, aber ich für meinen Teil hätte mir selbst wenn Hitler ein großer Künstler gewesen wäre keine Gemälde von ihm ins Haus gehängt.

(Ich freue mich schon drauf dass jemand behauptet der Vergleich wäre schlecht.)

[dercrazykraut]

"Wagner als einen Gott zu bezeichnen ist alberner Quatsch" - oooochgottogott, da ist aber jemand kritisch... Die Parallele Wagner/Hitler finde ich übrigens klasse; ich lass mir gleich morgen den kompletten letzten Satz deines obigen Kommentars auf ein T-Shirt drucken! ROCK ON!!!

[dercrazykraut]

ps.: Du wirkst übrigens richtig sexy, wenn du so streng und unerbittlich bist... Wir MÜSSEN uns mal auf ein Bierchen treffen; du klingst nämlich nach einem Typ, mit dem man total viel Spaß haben kann! Noch ein kleiner Tip: Hör dir mal das Meistersinger-Vorspiel oder die Prügelfuge richtig laut an und hol dir dabei einen runter - das macht locker und lässt die Stirnrunzeln von der gramumwölkten Denkerstirn verschwinden...

[debr03fy]

obvious troll is obvious.

[sarastro1791]

Mein lieber Freund!

"Verachtet mir die Meister nicht und ehrt mir íhre Kunst!"

So beginnt die Schlussansprache des Hans Sachs aus den "Meistersingern".

Ich hab' den Satz reingeschrieben, weil er für mich das ganze Werk am besten repräsentiert.

Ich mag Mendelssohn eigentlich sogar lieber als alles von Wagner, aber das eine hat mit dem anderen leider nichts zu tun... Also bitte!

[debr03fy]

1. Warum leider?

2. Warum sollte es damit nichts zu tun haben? Hab ich was verpasst und Die Meistersinger haben mit Wagner nichts zu tun, oder hat jetzt der Mangelnde Respekt Wagners gegenüber anderen Künstlern nichts mit Wagner zu tun?

3. Ich sagte in keinster weise, dass dieser Satz nicht das Werk repräsentieren könnte (obwohl ich nicht verstehe wie er das tun sollte), sondern habe das lediglich als Anekdote hinzugefügt.

[etiterum]

on a related cd he plays four hands with himself.

[heyaidkwhut]

Phenomenal....thats all I can say. Sounds terrific.

[kugelwuerfel]

Er ist natürlich prädestiniert, die hohen Töne besser zu hören als die tiefen. Noch etwas Ketzerisches: Manche Leute sitzen auch so auf dem Fahrrad oder vor dem Autosteuer.

[aleberni]

schaade dass er so siingt!!!

[dido93]

Fantastic pianist....!!!

[SchottM]

"Meistersinger? - What else!"

[micheldvorsky]

It's especially funny considering Gould presumably scripted that exchange. :D

[sondelachez]

nice accent herr gould

[klinsha8]

Moving, wonderful! the man IS MUSIC itself!

[tooreclusive]

This is wonderful - here we see many facets of Gould at play in one video. His quirky "in character" Germanic character, complete with accent, his mischievous humour, his ability as a transcriber (quite literal), and above all, his clarity of contrapuntal line. Wonderful dynamic control too. I loved this video.

[Lavalampoflava]

lol, he has great taste in music.

[SawBoss1000]

"bet you never knew that was there before!"

hahahahahahah

[JohnThePetru]

thanks, I'd never understand it alone! :D

[f1f1s]

3:44 = LOL! That was a great problem for sound designers to cut off his voice...

[cheerserrol]

Sublime........

[juliusrain]

"You wanna hear some?"

<333

[hundingwelser]

unfassbar genial- hab ich noch nie gehört vorher

[RabidCh]

Amazing, I didn't know he had interest in Wagner... :)

Truly great

[kenkim5]

converse, conduct, and play piano all at the same time. thats a big brain.

[BeauJames59]

@kenkim5 Check out the big brain on Glenn....

[BeauJames59]

Good Gravy, good gravy, good gravy....

[Pollione88]

@kenkim5 and SING! as well hehe

[The55555SSSSS]

@kenkim5

and speak German too !

[tarquin161234]

@kenkim5 Don't forget some singing jammed in there too

[Ellinidara]

.......You still live...you are immortal,king Glenn:-)

[93rardo]

fantastic