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From: conception3
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  • the string player at 7:00 just really wants to play.. haha

  • Ahhhgggg! Where's the last bit! It finishes too soon!

  • I'm sure he was being sarcastic being that this is one of the greatest, prettiest pieces of music ever written.

  • 1:24 - 1:50 - smthing out of this world/

  • "Although conductor Ancerl was said to have remarked something about substituting one kook for another" - after Michelangeli cancelled. Give me Gould any time.

  • This is the most emotionally evocative performance of this movement that I've seen. Glenn may be technically flawed, but he brings out the heartstopping pathos of this piece.

  • @celestialbody2011 Technically flawed. You will need to explain that comment. Glenn Gould had one of the most flawless techniques in instrumental history. You may want to watch the CBC documentary on Gould's Russian Journey (his 1957 visit to Russia). Or, take a look/listen to him playing his own arrangement of Ravel's La Valse.

  • Genius.

  • I am a novice to classical music in general and I was wondering if someone could recommend similar pieces, as I really enjoyed this.

  • Was this when he replaced Michelangeli?

  • Beethoven e Glenn Gould, alimentos da vida, nos aninham e animam a seguir.

    Grata por todo sempre.

  • probably the latter...

  • I can't tell if it is caused by his disregard for beethoven or if it was just his style to focus on other aspects

  • this is my favorite emperor concerto by far but i wonder if, as someone mentioned, gould was even really trying here. He does seem kind of careless.

  • I like it when they keep the cameras on the pianists, orchestra or solists instead of the conductors, the latter of whom are too often showboats.

  • gould did call some of beethoven and mozarts music junk in a few interviews. people must remember that gould was known mostly for playing baroque music and while he played classical music very well he did not enjoy many classical compositions. I agree this piece certainly displays feeling and grace but if one listens to his moonlight sonata rendition you may feel otherwise. glenn gould was a genius but not one who felt he needed to bow down to certain composers because he was a pianist.

  • Wow. It's so beautiful! The notes themselves are easy to play together. It's an easy piece to play. Very simple, BUT you have to put so much feeling into playing it. To interpret the music properly it takes a special ear. The same with Moonlight Sonata (more the 1st movement). Very easy but very hard in the way it's interpreted and the feeling that goes into it. Amazing. I love Glenn Gould.

  • Sorry, but i am part of the 22 taht do not like thie interpretation. Clearly, this is a bother for him. A job. It's perfect technically, but it has no soul.

  • comment ne pas être transfiguré à l'écoute de ce morceau exécuté par Glenn Gould

    c'est magnifique et je voudrais jouer comme lui, mais ce don ne m'a pas été donné

    dommage ....

  • @WiseMonkey888 This kind of music contains a divine spark, it goes right to your soul!

    I can speak about it (not only because I am a pianist), but I me and my brother, sister, mom, dad, ... WE ONLY LISTEN TO CLASSIC MUSIC !!! ;)

  • @WiseMonkey888 this kind of music contains a devine spark

  • how easy it is to critique a genius when one cant tell left from right and still ahs more power than the genius himself.....for he is no longer with us. Shame on you for daring to even attempt to belittle such ingenius playing. I couldnt care less if he wore a tutu if the sound is as such.

  • Can anyone post Gould's recording of the Emperor with Leopold Stokowski conducting? That would be great. It's a unique performance.

  •  è glenn gould il mio preferito!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • what I love the most about this music, and every Gould piece that I have... is that can hear him humming the melody. It is ever so faint, but it is there. Trust me, go to your record ( a.k.a. vinyl for those under 25) collection and listen to your Gould versions. You will hear him in the background periodically. So passionate about the music....

  • Falls man je über das Wert der Menschheit sich gefragen hätte, kann man sehr getröstet sein mit dem Wissen daß BEETHOVEN einmal unter uns gewesen war. Genie!

  • No matter what happens tomorrow, or for the rest of eternity, I feel happy knowing I can die to this music...

  • i have been trying to explain to my friend for years that when i listen to classical music i think i can hear what the composer was trying to convey but he said i was talking crap, i played him this piece and told him i felt it was about hope and realisation.....he now completely gets it! :-)

    This may well be the most powerful piece of music ever written :-)

  • I can see Beethoven hitting the shit out of Gould with a cane, then both having a bruski at the local tavern. Schubert would have had them both, but he croaked.

  • This is a man making love to a piano -or is the piano making love to him? Either way it is totally sublime. Jamieboots

  • An absolute treasure - I recognize many TSO musicians in the last minute of the piece. Nick Fiore (flute), Stan Wood (oboe), Ave Galper (clarinet), Stan McCartney (Clarinet), Norm Tobias (bassoon)

  • @NinjasLoveIcecream

    Why...?

  • @NinjasLoveIcecream : you're born because you have parents, your music is borne because of these dead musicians

  • Reminds me of Salieri, on reading Mozart's score: "This was a music I'd never heard - filled with such longing - such unfulfillable longing... It seemed to me that I was hearing a voice of God!"

  • @dyad2r1 imagine what kind of music heavens will be filled with!!!!

  • The back story behind this performance is really interesting. The CBC had scheduled Arturo Michelangeli to be the soloist here, and he canceled late the night before the taping the next morning. Everything had been arranged, Ancerl, the orchestra, the studio... the producers were frantic that they would lose a lot of money calling it off. Then someone said, "Hey, we have a world-class pianist right here in Toronto! Gould!" So they called him and Gould said....

  • "the Emperor? I haven't played that piece of junk in years!" Give me a few minutes to think about it and I'll let you know." Gould called back a little later and said "OK, I'll do it." He stayed up all night to play through the piece to refresh his memory, and was at the studio at 8 am to give this amazing performance, sans score, of a piece he didn't like and had last played when recording it with Stokowski in 1966.

  • That just made me dislike Glenn even more... I mean look at the way he plays it... yeah yeah, the key strokes are right but "Hey every one look at me!!!" ughh the way he moves his body is such a show off. Just play the beautiful piece and stop shaking your ass like a fucking stripper.

  • @madamewho VULGAR

  • @madamewho Yes, Glenn, just be a good little vessel for Beethoven's bombastic little exercise in "Hey everyone look at me" and don't try to do anything interesting with it!

    Dearest madame, if you want to listen to someone play the Emperor "beautifully" (in your world, read boring), why look to Gould?

  • @DeRevolutionibus Yes! his body movement brought this piece to a complete different level of greatness!

  • I like the use of sarcasm there..

  • @DeRevolutionibus This is not true. This is a stupid lie with no sense. A musician can never say something like that for a piece of music and let alone saying it for Beethoven's piece.

    If you want to tell us how much able Gould is to learn " a piece of junk " like this in a night that's not ok with me because when I see him playing I see his soul arise and i don't see a face which says " This is junk " you know what i mean.

    Now get out of here you piece of idiot.

  • @gregbboy619 Darling, you must never read Mr Gould's comments about Mozart... It might cause you to drop over.

  • @DeRevolutionibus And i wanted to add some details to my comment you sick moron :

    When I said a musician, I didn't ment a great musician but a normal one. How can you imagine that Gould would have said that ? This is not a DJ remix where you get some exstasy and you go and give a stupid one night stand. This is much more deep than that.

  • @gregbboy619 Bruno Monsaingeon, Gould's friend and frequent interviewer told the anecdote, at the beginning of the Glenn Gould Collection video segment that features this performance of the "Emperor". Don't believe me? You can listen to Gould call the second theme of the "Emperor" (and most of middle-period Beethoven) "junk" for yourself by searching YouTube for "Glenn Gould conversation with B.Monsaingeon(2)"

  • @DeRevolutionibus Thank you for your comment, that makes me smile and refreshes my love for him who is still my favorite pianist of all time. He was so passionnate about music. Thank you.

  • So many petty and meaningless comments about Gould. All listeners should be concentrating on the beauty of the music from Beethoven as Gould was doing. One thing that he would have been keenly aware of was that this was the music that ended the performing career of Beethoven. This was the last piece he tried to perform in public at the piano. With every note, try to imagine Beethoven and his frustration in his attempt to perform. The soloist controls a sonata performance, not the conductor.

  • I like the part at 2:55 where he does a little conducting of his own.

  • Such pathos and joy touches me to my very soul.

  • i think his shirt is a little bit too tight at the neck.

  • 4:52 is just too beautiful for me.. no one other than gould can bring out this sound from the piano..

  • When a soloist grimaces or looks away or makes strange expressions or jerky movements with their arms, shoulders, etc they are accessing something very deep deep inside and the concentration shows physically when they are bringing it up to where it can be expressed audibly. I am familiar with it occasionally and love the ecstacy when I can experience such a profound spiritual moment. I feel extreme gratitude at that moment. The satisfaction is unimaginable. I hope that makes sense

  • Amazing.

  • pretty riveting.... I didn't hear any note out of tune at 2:00.

  • pretty riveting....

  • Ta muốn khi ta mất cũng có tiếng nhạc bên cạnh. Âm nhạc luôn giúp ta cảm thấy thanh thản.

  • every time i hear this piece all i can think of is death and the end of the world and the innate evil in mans heart. watch Gilgamesh and you will understand. nevertheless it is an amazing piece.

  • @PirateKing666 Just finished the anime, came to listen to the song, glad I'm not the only one lol

  • @xravenx24fe i know rite how f'ed up is that ending most depressing thing ever.

  • Gould plays the crowd.

  • it sounds out of tune the piano at 2:00?... the left hand

  • Words cannot capture the beauty of this music, simply perfect, grace. Gould really understood Beethoven. These recordings are his legacy to the world.

  • C'est tout simplement fascinant !

  • i love how at 3:29 he gives each trill a different speed, character and tone. what a genius!

  • @eliasbb I agree, I first heard of this on a cd (no idea who's on the piano) but i always hated that part because it sounded dead with no passion and it killed the song for me, but Gould played it so good, he made it alive, I'm sure this is how it is meant to be played. now i can't get enough of the entire song. one of my favourite of all time

  • @HardstyleAlways I think one needs to get to know the 2nd movement to appreciate it. It took me about a dozen listening to it, each time it revealed more of its beauty to me. Now whenever someone asks me what my favorite classical piece is, I tell them Beethoven's 5th concerto, 2nd movement. They usually never heard it, or when hearing it don't see why I like it so much. I suppose its the closest to falling in love with music one can get. Gould is good. But also check out Zimerman's version

  • @swhitworth10791 I agree.

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  • @swhitworth10791 Oh I get it. He plays beethoven's music beautifully so he's next to him representing god or he treasured this music like the bible. Or am I wrong?

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  • @1Janny1 So the music he could recognize was similar to the voice of god? I'm just trying to make it simpler. But still no matter what this piece just touches me deeply.

  • @StradAmatiViolin I just edited out a silly joke I first made to you whichactually appeared below the one that remains. It read like a haughty remark today and I am sorry. GG was not regular church attender after 18 but something deeply SPIRITUAL, not "churchy" or religious was so engrained in him that it manifested when he played Beethoven and Bach. To me, bible is not word of god so much as something inspired by him to be read and lead by HIS SPIRIT where it takes the one who is open.

  • beethoven is a genius

  • When I just listen, this is beautiful. But I can't watch him, it bothers me. However, this interpretation is beautiful, every note is played with purpose. A rare genius indeed.

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  • This is the performance of a genius. Surely there is no better interpretation of this glorious musical diamond. The ending is so beautiful - Beethoven would have taken great delight in this performance. Every note is played with the exact degree of passion required to transport the listner to a far better place. This is a must-hear for anyone who professes to be a lover of music. Can't say more -I have to listen to it again.

  • Where is the legato???

  • @kempff95

    Are you mad ! Mon dieu - this is superlative playing - the like of which we will be lucky to see again.

  • @kempff95 ...when notes go from one to the next one...without interval...also called "slur"

  • I dO declare & insist with @kempff95 : ma, Santa MadOnna !... "where is the legatO-tO ", nOm de dieu d'bOn dieu ?!?

  • I find it unfair that immense talents like Gould had to leave this world, while all the pointless and arrogant people linger on instead.

  • Is this person man or female ? Do we make a bit too much of sex, perhaps 'cause it 'sells' ? And what does that mean, it 'sells' ? Sex is fine, obviously. But let us not let it dominate us. What ? We have an 'animal nature' ? But. some say, animals have a human nature...consider this...

  • I love Glenn Gould, his interpretations show how he was....with his old chair, singing while playing, with his enormous ability of concentration, and the most important....connecting with the audience despite it was not his goal. The entire World and specially music world needs this kind of artists........unique!

  • amazing...genius

  • im amazed that music centuries of years old can still evoke this kind of passion from gould.

  • THE BEST "Emperor" EVER . . . .! ! ! ALL movements are done GENIUS ! from ANY point of view !

  • though I estimate Backhaus's concerts unreachable, this adagio from 5th is my favourite ever. GOD GLENN

  • "A master, playing a master." Couldn't have said it better myself.

  • How can a melody be so sad, so sweet and so tender at the same time?

  • I love play the part from 4.03 to 4.44, :)

  • This is heard at the end of "Picnic at Hanging Rock"- and is absolutely 100% right for that film...love it!

  • What is the name of the orchestra?

  • Glen Gould with his music opened the doors of heaven and let us hear the music playing there next to God

    Glen Gould con su música abria las puertas del cielo y nos dejaba escuchar la música que se escucha allá, al lado de Dios

  • You poet! I say, what good English you've used!!!

    What a glorious thign to say! Amen ^^

  • And they said Gould only understood Bach. Here he delves into the mind of Beethoven...and the result is breathtaking.

  • ...much, MUCH than just a great musician... A SUPER GENIUS!!! My wife & I literally cried when he passed away... unbelievable depth, substance, pure, unadulterated music-making... art expressed @ the highest level possible by a human being... words are just so poor... 25 stars!!

  • Just speechless. Every piece he played moves me. Truely great musician...

  • that was very gould!

  • Вие не виждам много коментари на български!

  • everybody tries to comment in the dominant language of the post. also, bulgarian is too hard.

  • A deeply moving piece from (one of?) the greatest pianist

  • Eine Manifestation der Liebe.

  • Do you want me to transcribe it?

  • Glenn God.  I mean Gould, Gould.

  • Glenn...happy 77th...you are next to God...

  • virtuosos always stand next to satan

  • Not true at all. Exhibit A: Bach. You're view is, however, quite fashionably romantic.

  • thank you yes thats what i was implying, liszt and paganini met mephistopheles at the crossroads.

  • Keep, that is uncalled for. And I don't understand why it would be so.

  • @wjf1950 god ant real

  • sublime

  • i like how the camera angle has to keep rotating at 1:30 to keep up with his head movement lol..

  • @fievel3782 Always clockwise and he was also famous (infamous) for humming those words in the middle of a recording... BUT... an outstanding pianist and interpretor.

  • @fievel3782

    indeed...lol

  • You know why Gould is not my favorite even though I respect him the most? His humming/singing-along while playing. When you see him move his mouth he's ACTUALLY singing. It's not recorded very clearly here but it is in many of his recordings, especially his Bach. That's extremely annoying for me, but I guess he's allowed because he's Gould.

  • ... it isn't the body language that makes him so eccentric (why are so many disturbed by his posturing?) it's his phrasing that is radical. He seems to feel the need to "correct" Beethoven at times...

  • gould played this so poignantly. i thought i heard angels singing the first time he played those notes.

  • Its Ok

  • Cela pose une question: est-ce qu'il vaut mieux souffrir d'une forme d'autisme comme Gould mais, véritablement, accoucher de choses exceptionnelles (de ce que l'on appelle communément le génie), ou vaut-il mieux être normal, mais n'avoir aucun talent et une vie médiocre?

    Non, la question ne se pose pas vraiment, en fait.

    Bravo Glenn Gould, quel bonheur de voir quelqu'un qui joue si bien et se fout de l'image qu'il donne de lui!

  • Moi je le trouve beau et vibrant dans l'intensité de ce qu'il donne à la musique .....et c'est bien là tout ce qui compte......

  • beetheoven.......

  • I admire Glen Gould because he is so talented, I want to visit his grave in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto one day when I have time. It is not far from my home. He died too early.

  • most great people do die too early

  • Да, за съжаление е вярно. Трябва да се пазят великите талантливи хора от всички и да се ценят

  • freaking beautiful!!!!!!!!

  • i don't care if this man has autism or constipation....this is an awesome performance...

    such passion, such feeling...Beethoven would have thumbed up.

  • Agreed. Some here may want to call him deranged or crazy and yet with a talent like this his is above most of us average human beings. Mr. Gould was a genius of a pianist. He refused to limit himself to the written score but he rather took a broader view of a musical piece.

  • Ludwig and Wolfgang and Johann made music to be played and interpreted and enjoyed and challenged..The Greats I'm sure wanted their musik to be taken to the highest level..Glen did that

  • It's demeaning to try and pigeonhole a genius. For what makes him a genius is that he is one of a kind and cannot be compared to anyone else or generalized in anyway. Besides there's no way we could ever know if he had autism or not. He was never diagnosed in his lifetime (just a fact!). It's all just silly speculation. So let's just enjoy what IS certain: He was one of the most original musicians -and individuals- this world has ever known. And there will never be another one like him again! :)

  • @brassmonkeyjew I agree with you!

  • This was perfect. Gould was in another dimension. Thank You.

  • Listen to the perfection in his technique and his love for the music. Nobody forces you to listen or watch a master, but yet here you are commenting on a man you obviously cannot stand. Whose the pyschotic idiot now.

  • of course he would bring his own chair haha...brilliant nonetheless

  • Deranged???Just close your eye and listen to him...Absolutely beautiful and passionate...I prefer to see a pianist play with emotion then to see one playing stiff as a board just trowing notes here and there...He was a geniuous...

  • This is sublime... heart touching.

    Nothing else to say.

  • A 'sufferer' of "Asperger's Syndrome"?

    "Deranged"?

    "Autistic"?

    What? I weep. Why on earth are you humans discussing this way, using made-up words for made-up 'conditions'? Just listen to him - LISTEN! Magnificent, magnificent - beyond our human understanding, touching a place beyond this human world.

  • you are invited to shut up! We implore you too thanks

  • Perfect tempo

  • Whit very spirit....of course, the special Gould's stamp.

    Magnificent  !!!!!!!!!

  • Gould has to be Autistic?

  • He was not autistic. He was deranged.

  • Oh dear...that's a rather strong word...

  • Strong, perhaps. But true, I believe.

  • You idiot.

  • Whatever.

  • LOL word bitch

  • That's how he's played ever since he started playing. It seems a bit flamboyant but it's not completely unheard of.

  • Glenn Gould: the best.

  • Hier krijg ik nooit genoeg van, zo mooi !!!!!!!!!!

  • Mr Gould seems to be intoxicated by the music or otherwise lol nevertheless brilliant performance!

  • beatiful music....weird guy

  • Amazing song, but that performance is weird.

  • I read somewhere that it was believed that Gould suffered from Aspergers syndrome. maybe that's why.

  • gould knows his beethoven. talked a lot of trash though. see what he says about the appassionata haha what a character.

  • I have never heard Gould interpret Beethoven before. I am stunned by this performance -- gorgeous, lyrical, very much his own style, VERY different from almost all other renditions. It works, though and is incredibly beautiful.

  • Amazing!!!

  • claudia call  minisota

  • ....five stars are not enough to express my appreciation.....'divinity' maybe.....