Glenn Gould - Beethoven 15 Variations and Fugue Op 35 (3/3)

[MusicalFusionUnion]

<3 GG



[truBador2]

Love Gould!

[carstendahlmusic]

Funky and funny i the hysterycal kind of natural Beethoven way! Amen

[sebastianrc]

I don't know why people love Lang Lang, he is off course an extraordinary pianist (by the way, I'm not) and he is able to play anything he would like; but he's not an artist, he lacks the very essence of music which is not involved in the capability of playing without mistakes

[steamednotfried]

lol, look at his hair near the beginning and then near the end.

[rayuuhumizuki]

wow.

[SepiaLatimanus]

Worthless! Lang lang would never have made that mistake at 0:12!

[youresomodest]

@SepiaLatimanus One wrong notes makes a pianist "worthless"? Be sure to let Horowitz, Rubenstein, and all the other greats know that. I can promise you Lang Lang has missed his fair share. Why in the world would you want a perfect performance?

[mightyafrowhitey]

@youresomodest A perfect performance is what I imagine all performers aim for. Missing notes is something nobody should do, and nobody wants to do. Having said that, nobody is perfect, and even the greatest aren't going to play it perfect all the time.

[StoneChords]

@SepiaLatimanus Please... Lang Lang is about 1/1000th the artist Glenn Gould was.

[222mozart]

@StoneChords

(LL is a musician clown.)

[whneo97]

You mad bro? Gould made no mistake! 0.O

[steamednotfried]

@SepiaLatimanus lol, that was something else. That wasn't Gould. Maybe it was one of the technicians putting down a coffee cup.

[MrStrav81]

@SepiaLatimanus

Funny! Lang Lang instead would've riddled 0:15 - 4:24 with mistakes and bad artistic choices. And he would've played it even faster so he could win the "race" with Gould.

[71lupenzo710]

thanks glenn forever in my mind

[peaceric]

he looks so excited when he finally gets to the fugue, lol

[mrotwist]

C'est tres magnifique!

[nasoszeppos]

here is a true genius with pure love to his music unlike the pompous money eater liberace asshole bastard

[MrAndieMusik]

It's a pity the rest of the piece (Eroica Variations) is missing.

[jghancockjr]

His uniquely illuminating light did not shine long enough.

[witchcraftlord]

no one can play like that, other than Bach, Glenn Gould also liked playing Beethoven , didnt you notice there are almost none recordings of him playing Mozart or Chopin, because those guys are BOORRRRRINNNG ZZZZZZ very monotone music, Bach and Beethoven is more contrapuntal

[metteholm75]

Beethoven would have loved this!

[ZaraAmb]

гениально!!!

[therealbenphelps]

truly amazing.

[hobowilson]

eroica variations

[InterlochenFan]

Yes, Ludwig knew a bit about fugues.....as a kid, he memorized and played the entire Well-Tempered Clavier. This is brilliant.....thank-you!!!

[iguarni]

Wordless. My friend we're in front of two geniuses: the very best is evidently the composer and the second is the pianist at his best. WONDERFULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tyronethe24th]

@iguarni It's a photo finish.

[paranapoleon]

4:18 - 4:24 look his hair xD

[cirosuperiore]

amazing 

fabulous

[slizzler1]

How does he memorize so many intricate works! Amazing

[tarquin161234]

I wish I was so good I could get away with his eccentrism.

[Johannes999999999]

This is the first fugue by Beethoven I have heared, and I am supprised by its quality. I always think of Beethoven as a Romantic, however, I almost forgot that the early part of his career was in the classical era, when composers still knew how to write a fugue.

[alienalienss]

@Johannes999999999 Actually, Beethoven wrote a lot more fugues than Mozart did, and much better ones. 

[Johannes999999999]

@alienalienss I do not know if Beethoven wrote more fugues or not. I know Mozart wrote more music in general, and that nearly all of his fugues were in pieces of choral music, so it might be more difficult to find a Mozart fugue. But, his fugues had clearer subjects and answers, which is a major part of a fugue. Listen to Mozart's fugue in g minor and you will know what I mean.

[nmrd123987]

@Johannes999999999 @Johannes999999999 Yeah, Beethoven indeed wrote some fuges, and they are really nice too.

Two examples are the fuge in c-major, hess 64 and the fuge in d-major for organ, woo 31. I suggest giving them a try:)

Have a good day.

[elementofart]

He is unattainable!

[rewquiopfdsahjkl]

poop

[stephengnelson]

DUDE!!!

[ivanoschen]

The last chapter of Beethoven's Eroica variations, which salutes and has Bach's soul. Who can play Bach's soul better than Glenn Gould?

[yabemi]

Glenn Gould ..

[jewish1972]

where is the fugue?

[bcooly11]

@jewish1972 the fugue starts at the beggining. after the lyrical part.

[twolegsnotail]

This is such a joy: a young man, a rascal, so perfectly apt and so utterly brilliant and more than capable of giving this piece everything it deserves in tempi, dynamics, momentum, hubris, lyricism. What a performance! Gould goes boldly where...angels fear to tread.

[jimmihshs]

Glen is just the goofiest guy I have ever seen, but I'll be damned if he can't play piano like no other.

[BrucknerMotet]

I love it how Beethoven's contemporaries gave him so much hell for not producing fugues, going so far as to accuse him of not having what it takes. Well, Ludwig stepped up here on this one and nailed it out of the yard. With GG helping out, we have a multi-score homerun.

[adams82683]

This just goes to show that Gould could play other composers besides Bach incredibly well. The clarity, vitality and energy are unparalleled. I'm actually learning this piece now and it is wicked difficult. This fugue is also particularly nightmarish to play, and how Gould does it with such ease and clarity is baffling.

[lhiasczkter]

Perfect dialog between right and left hand !!!

[parkhighmountain]

Wow,so awesome and magnificient!

You're right that he left many good records for us. So fortunate for all human kind. As well as Beethoven, Long Live GG.

[outsider950]

perfetto.perfect.

[Pacocarro]

Te faltó interpretar las Diabelli para ser perfecto, pero

¡Viva la madre que te parió!

[4444matthew4444]

...wow...

[joyleemorr]

Thank you for for these Variations and all the other GG videios you post for us. May you continue to have good hunting!

[joyleemorr]

My fingers got carried away. That's GG videos.

[alvasch]

All Beethoven fugues lead to one from Hammerklavier :)

[joyleemorr]

Tell me about the "hammerklavier." I've seen a fair amount of comments about the difficulty of it and would like to know what makes it more difficult. To me, it doesn't sound more difficult than others, but I'm not a musician. Thanks.

[alvasch]

I can quote Gould's own words on it: "... the piece is hopelessly unpianistic - not just because it's horrendously difficult (and what's worse, to the untutored ear doesn't sound all that hard) but because it's written with little or no concern for the sympathies and antipathies which exist between various regions of the keyboard ..."

[joyleemorr]

Thank you.

[vinciano]

@alvasch where did u find this quotes? Thx

[alvasch]

@vinciano

In the notes to CD with Gould playing sonata 24 & 29.

[vinciano]

@alvasch

[adams82683]

Kind of hard to explain verbally what makes it so difficult and you're right, it doesn't sound more difficult than the others. It is extremely polyphonic (several different lines or melodic parts going on simultaneously) and they are often very widely spaced. With so many complex parts going on at once, this puts the hands into extremely awkward and uncomfortable positions pretty much the whole time. In other words, the same thing as what alvasch quoted Gould saying. :)

[TheGloryofMusic]

The piece is constructed like a fractal-- a self-similar pattern. It's the most organic piece of music prior to Webern.

[soheilnasseri]

this is Gould at his absolute best. fantastic!

[222mozart]

@soheilnasseri

This is Gould at his absolute best.

But is isn't LvB at his absolute best.

[soheilnasseri]

@222mozart I think you are right, and think it is the 'variation form' which does not play to Beethoven's strength- the art of 'storytelling'. Beethoven is straightjacketed by the form here, and in the other sets of variations I play too. LvB demonstrates his masterful pianistic skills, and ability to work from fixed material, but never reaches that higher level. But why did he write so many variation sets? I wonder if they represent his bridge from improv to sonata in a way...?

[222mozart]

@soheilnasseri

))) excuse, master - but I ment my words in an other way: GG plays with the highest mastery (may be he is the best of all of you...), but LvB is much much more better then he !

[soheilnasseri]

@222mozart well then, as we say in English, you are comparing apples and oranges. I think Robert de Niro is a great actor, but it wouldn't make sense to compare him directly with Stanley Kubrick.

[LemonPie17]

hahaha, look at his hair at the end!! lolololol

[frenchmusician12]

Think my favorite piece of piano music by Beethoven. And it will never be played any better.

[beethomozart]

long live ludwig van,extraordinary talented pianist was the late glenn gould,who died in 1982,aged 50,what a good thing he left many recordings,these variations end with the typical fugue in two parts,the 1st one at 3 voices and the 2nd one more melodic

[Lutzenberger]

wuah, genius

[terryregnar]

GG CAME ON FOR THE FUGUE.. GGED

[chrish12345]

omg this is so much like the fugue from the Hammerklavier sonata

[iguarni]

We are in front of two geniuses: the very best one is the composer but the interpeter is a phenomenon too.

[diditrich]

And let it be said that by this fugue Beethoven certainly should great devotion to his masters. That´s a great virtue in a composer.

[iguarni]

Yes! And by the way we have to say: "Beethoven is not a composer. He is "the" composer!" All the best.

[ludwig720]

Sovrumano talento, un controllo della tastiera "assoluto"