Glenn Gould - Prokofieff, Visions Fugitives Op. 22 No. 2

[Arpeggio555]

Visions Fugitives...

He was Vision Fugitive, he performed from the very core of his being... This is how silence sounds like, in musical translation...

[CaptainBluebear08]

awestruck, speechless.

[geertdehoux]

This is very intense music making!

Very interesting.

Geert Dehoux, pianist.

[lflagr]

omg...this is the SLLLOOOOOOWWWWWWWEEESSSSTTTTTT rendition of this movement i've ever heard. sorry, but this doesn't work for me...too static and it falls apart when played this slow. 

[Yoshi5020]

I somewhat rescind my previous comment. I just thought it was interesting that composers had never before tried to capture the feeling of confusion, or frustration, in music; and also that, in doing so, all the possible emotions to be expressed seemed to be taken. But maybe it's just the depth that changes? Confusion may have been previously expressed by one of Bach's slow dirges; and Beethoven expressed rage, but as well as 90s rock? Just musing on how music changes as people change.

[corkasus]

Completely different from Richter, and eye-openingly original. I never would have thought to play it this way.

[fredericfranc]

...this is the Mr.Hyde side of Gould whereby he willfully does the "wrong thing"...i.e. sounds all wrong for this kind of Prokofiev...yet if he recorded the lot...of these "Visions"...maybe I would buy them...just to be able to listen at will to Prokofiev "done wrong"...the Gould's way...

[Rusalka1975]

I saw the message: ENJOY THE VISION FUGITIVE! (THE MOMENTFUL LIFE)

[ThePianoguy89]

Glenn Gould is the greatest pianists ever next to Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, and Arrau. They all share the greatest history in the art of piano!

[richardre06]

Perfect !! really i like it a lot

[piano62lyu]

It's not what Prokofiev wrote. Too slow and too dramatic...

[aculturemind]

@piano62lyu

But it kicks fuckin ass this way. Some cross between Ravel's Le Gibet, late Scriabin, and of course Prokofiev.

[geertdehoux]

@piano62lyu

Should a performer always follow the composer's own musical intentions ?

Only a question...

[piano62lyu]

@geertdehoux

Absolutely not. However, each composer has stylistic features - it's not a news - and a task of the performer is to introduce those features to the audience, mostly non professional musicians. Prokofiev was very active person with highest degree of sarcastic humor. His music is extremely contrasting, but without funerals. The drama comes to his music much later than Visions were composed.

[geertdehoux]

@piano62lyu

Thanks for your interesting answer.

However, what if the musical and pianistic genius Gould 'felt' the drama Prokofiev wasn't even aware of yet ?

Stylistically one can call it 'wrong', but what if Gould felt or understood certain things the composer himself didn't yet ? In that case, you can say the performer has no right to put his own 'personality' into someone else's music, but can this really be avoided ?

I doubt so.

A cordial greeting.

Geert Dehoux, pianist.

[piano62lyu]

@geertdehoux

I have nothing againts Gould. Like probably most professional pianists, I treat him with a great respect. We may only guess what he predicted. As we know, he had his own interpretation to all composers and did not like Chopin much -:) Prokofiev's piano music is one of my expertise. Therefore, I am absolutely confident saying that the Sarcasms (Prokofiev was 22 y.o.) and Visions (24 y.o.) can not be performed in such long story as Gould introduces. That story came much later to P.

[geertdehoux]

@piano62lyu

Historically, you might be 100% right.

But, let's not forget Gould was a genius, as well.

What IF he had played for example Mozart's Fantasy in d Minor like this ?

Would that have been 'wrong' ?

Stylistically, no doubt!

But then again, Gould was a weird musician and extremely intelligent...

Of course, I'm aware of the fact this interpretation doesn't belong to the 'tradition' of performing Prokofiev's music.

Nevertheless, it remains very interesting.

[geertdehoux]

@piano62lyu

Please, note I'm not saying Gould was 'right'.

I'm only asking a question about this interesting item.

Thanks for understanding this.

Geert.

[piano62lyu]

@geertdehoux

All of us put our personality into the music that we perform. Otherwise, what we are doing in arts, right? -:) I am just saying my opinion about only one fragment. Other people liked Gould's Visions and I did not. Both sides are right, I believe.

Thanks.

Laryssa

[geertdehoux]

@piano62lyu

Thanks for your interesting comment.

A cordial greeting,

Geert.

[geertdehoux]

@piano62lyu

Anyway, how many Visions did Gould record ?

[enriquem90]

@geertdehoux I think this only

[geertdehoux]

@enriquem90

Sí, supongo que solo una.

Gracias por contestar,

Geert Dehoux.

[DJPsionix]

@tsiyishin - ignore your tutor. Play it however you like it, in your free time if you must, without anyone else hearing. Your tutor's opinion (while possibly valid) is not important. Gould -really- broke the rules with this one - but listen to how unique and beautiful his interpretation is.

[geertdehoux]

@DJPsionix

Well said.

[grazusrytas]

@tsyishin it is allowed only for Gould ;)

[amatorynumber]

@grazusrytas I think we allowed him far too many things :-) remember berstein speech apropos brahms piano concerto? ;-)

[usernameoccupato]

gorgeous

[NorkelFjols]

I think this is the first time I've heard Gould play Prokofiev (I know there's a recording of the 7th sonata). The tempo is slow but I think it works well. He should have made a recording of the whole opus 22.

[ssprokofiev]

It's nice to hear how Gould viewed this piece, but, alas, his tempo is just too slow.

[konstantinidisgeorge]

touching the mystical world with his fingers...

[Composerland]

Wow. I haven't played this since 1983. Such nice memories of discovering Prokofieff. The tempo illuminates the work.

[maestromaticdc]

at first I thought it was Will Ferrell doing a gag version.

[onestaplease]

amazing...

[stargirl2007a]

How can anyway dislike this video? AWESOMENESS!

[winterwind1810]

Amazing. The slow tempo bothered me at first, but I now consider this the ultimate version of the piece. I'd really like to hear how he interpreted the rest of the visions.

[rmosetti]

mose68 Gould as usual is very eccentric. Timing is very slow, However, the result is impressive more like Debussy than Prokoviev,

[kevasman]

Boris Berman has recorded all the Prokofiev piano music beautifully!

[stockcar5472]

I will. I have enormous respect for the composer but to suppress criticism is the type of regime that Prokoffieff would have hated as he lived under it. If I say I don't like something what is the problem? Free speech remember. A better response would have been to say why YOU like the piece.

[mrpossibilities]

Oh boy. I sure thought I had all of Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives in that Prokofiev Plays Prokofiev CD I bought.

This is superb. And like the previous Visions Fugitives I've heard, it hints impressionism.

[FreieStadtElbing]

ultimately ethereal

[quinto34]

It is okay not be able to grasp the music of a genius (I have this with Schumann and Chopin), but it's rather ignorant to blame the genius ..lol

[ProkofievRules]

I think Gould, and Prokofiev would've either got along spledidly or just not at all if they ever knew each other.

[stockcar5472]

Any monkey could write this rubbish.

[elvaril]

Yes you're right!

But a man did it first... monkey!

[stockcar5472]

@elvaril Truly awful piece. Love the piano concertos - if this is a representation of the angst of modernism blah blah blah ... what utter nonsense! Prokofiev must have been having his piano tuned the day he wrote this!

[elvaril]

@stockcar5472

Ok i agree with you about "prokovief's tuned piano" but after reading Doistoievki book something about Russian spirit appears: it' isnt angst of modernism but a private moment between god and a man that gave so much of its blood to people. Here's the tragical fugitiv vision of what human beeing is really made... clumsiness and fear

cheers my friend

[Yoshi5020]

And thus, horror movie music was born.

[moscadoda94]

My favourite vision too!But ,sorry master Glen Gould,that's not quite andante! What a pitty!

[Bartekdex]

my favourite vision

[Yoshi5020]

Dissonance, confusion-- one of the last colors of nature emulated by musicians.

And what now? What's new after it's all been done before? ...I'm sure this was the concern of Modernism. I guess the response was that the medium changed--music serves entirely different purposes these days. Commercialism, I guess.

[markchentx]

@Yoshi5020

Dissonance yes, confusion no. The artists stepping into new light have exact ideas what kind of voice they want to generate. Confused are the audiences, when they can't catch up with the new creativity. Most of us like like old dogs, unable to learn new tricks. The only way to be less confused, is to give up stubbornness and embrace newness.

[hymnofashes]

@Yoshi5020 Multitonality, to me, is the addition of another dimension to music rather than the destruction of one. There is so much in our modern world to describe; transcendence, integration, horror.

[ivanmikyska]

@Yoshi5020 Have you bothered to try and find any contemporary music before assuming it didn't exist?

[composerdoh]

Just watching some different performances of this- very nice, as usual- I always wonder with these vids of Gould if those frozen moments are due to editing/splicing? I presume they are.

[foxzen9]

Not quite andante

[gonofrio]

@foxzen9  you're a fucking idiot

[moscadoda94]

He's not idiot! He's absolutely right!

[LarsYenin]

nice one.

[LLeft]

Mekong Delta (a german techno-thrash band) are very influenced by Prokofiev, along with M. Mussorgsky and other romanticist composer. One of their records is even named Visions Fugitives.

[bergsedijk]

thnx for sharing

[deemilieu]

Prokofiev

[kevasman]

Another weird one from Gould - this is so insanely slow a tempo for this piece I hardly recognized it.

[stargirl2007a]

@kevasman Can you give a recommendation, then, of a version you like? This is the only one I found on YouTube that I did like...XD

[stargirl2007a]

lol actually that's not actually true......only one I found LOL

[spynuker]

what a pro =)

[joenopride]

What an amazing interpretation. I wish I could pull it off this slow.

[johngoforth77]

id hit that!!

[Zebeldarebel]

I wish I would acquire a stronger taste for a well-constructed piece such as this.

[Cornour]

This sounds indeed weird, but if you listened to post-hardcore music, you would fall in love with nearly all pieces from Prokofiev.

[animalmother1065]

Funny you should mention that. I think that Prokofiev's Toccata op.11 is heavier than most metal bands I've heard to date, and it was composed almost a century ago.

Certainly interesting to find the roots of heavy metal in the great composers of yesteryear.

[EMPERORMIKI]

There is none save emotion.

I'd like you to find one heavy metal band that cites Prokofiev as inspiration.

I think you are confusing your own experience with others.

When I listen to Beethoven, Bach, Ives, Metallica I am listening through my own experience and find similarities within the music not of the music itself but my own experience.

[animalmother1065]

Finding comparisons based off of experiences is one way to find similarities within the music, but I must disagree that there is no comparison between the two outside the realm of emotion. Based off the simple fact that there exists a major and minor system of scales for both classical music and heavy metal, then I feel it is safe to make the assumption that there are similarities between the two.

[animalmother1065]

Not to mention the fact that classical music inspired ragtime, which inspired jazz, which inspired blues, which inspired rock n roll, which inspired classic rock, which inspired metal.

While I do not know if Necrophagist specifically said that Prokofiev was an influence on their music, I do know that they took a theme from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet as a segment for one of their metal riffs to conclude one of their songs. That to me is inspiration enough.

[EMPERORMIKI]

Actually, all the styles you mentioned are part of popular music—not classical music.

Japanese imperial music and Lady Gaga are both sonically based (as in language)—of course there are similarities. That however does not give merit to your claim.

I'm not saying they shouldn't mix—I mix things all the time in terms of music.

However, using a theme of Prokovief I guess amounts to inspiration.

[parquar]

You must not listen to much metal. The harmonic minor tendencies are obviously taken from classical music exclusively. Necrophagist, although very disjointed in comparison, is undeniably influenced by classical music not only with their harmonic minor progressions but also the raised 4ths. If you listen to real technical innovative metal rather than bluesy or w/e you will find classical influence.

[apuland]

J' en ai la chair de poule! Quelle ambiance extraordinaire!

[kaner333]

Pretty cacophonous in my opinion. I find it easy to play Beethoven in an impassioned manner, but I don't see how Gould can find any meaning in this.

[AnnaderWald]

Eh bien abandonnez le piano et essayez la grosse caisse...

[Pogouldiwitz]

Truly extraordinary interpretation!

[Frederikamusic]

unbelievably magical

no other words here

[Burkemaster]

Impressive and very expressive playing, but the song sucks. Sorry.

[Cornour]

Hahahaha, how come I find it pure genius?

[quinto34]

This is a huge trip

[dweezlzor]

Incredible.

[CaptainBluebear08]

lost for words, other than : merci.

[slowstrummer1]

Ah yes the incomparable Glen Gould. We miss you Glen, this world is a sadder place without you. Things are pretty bad here in douchebag central. You would faint at the sight of what is called "Talent" these days. Much love to you.

[musicdivinemusic]

Beautiful. You can feel the very soul of the music.

[innerpig]

"You can feel the soul of the music,"? What are you talking about? The music doesn't have a soul---WE do; the composer does. Music is only the numerical vehicle. The Ghost in the Machine?----i don't think so. No.

[jezmuff]

We do? No fuckwit, NOBODY does.

[innerpig]

Well then what was the the person who made the comment about feeling the soul of the music talking about then? She (he?) said "you can feel the very soul of the music. If there is no soul, then what is referring to exactly. Tell us. Show these fuckwit's your grand wisdom.

[stagesix6]

i cant

[aphalga]

Smell of forbidden flower

[INTERNETVID]

really liked this, and thanks for posting.

[TheTickTockGirl]

I have a 'back in the day' true story.

My Grandfather owned a tailor shop in Toronto. Glenn wanted a suit and nearly didn't get one, for my grandad was not tolerant of anyone who appeared to be- light in the loafers, shall we say. It took my uncle to point out that GG was one of Canada's most famous musicians. Gramps relented,

Glenn got his tux and remained a loyal customer after that. This was back in the early 1960's

Ticky.

[madpop17]

yea right

[princeandrey]

Yet, Grandaddy was wrong. Gould wasn't gay. Hah!

[ChrisWatch]

&fmt=18 copy and paste this code at end of this websites url address. For higher audio/video quality.

[Hervinbalfour]

In the words of the late Leonard Bernstein on Glenn Gould:

"This guy is nuts but he is a genious!"

This was an awesome interpretation.

[micheldvorsky]

That comment is attributed to Szell.. But Bernstein was also a fan. :P

[ScriabinAlexander]

This is brilliant

[andretchaikowskycom]

Yes, it's rather slow but very effective. Ivo Pogorelich take notice!

[northicekate]

Visionary music played by a visionary musician, the great Glenn Gould!

[agrandb]

its sound realy good at a slow tempo...the best interpretation i´ve heard

[leptosz]

I dont understand the greatness of that piece. I cant....

[highlandsh]

To leptosz: one approach to appreciate any piece of music. Listen to a bit, hit pause and try to imagine what sounds would come next. Hit play again and see where the composer went instead. Go with the composer to this new place that you would not have expected.

[mrpossibilities]

That sounds awesome. That is really a great exercise for musical attention and musical appreciation. Thank you!

[Sveccha93]

@highlandsh what a beautiful, gentle and smart thing to say. cheers.

[fredericfranc]

@highlandsh ...where does that leave the serial composers...where the guys are following the freaking row?..

[highlandsh]

@fredericfranc Re serial composers and trying to imagine what comes next. IMO serial composition is not simply a mechanical process. The composer still needs to compose: chose the register, rythmn, dynamics, juxtaposition of competing and counterpoint lines, instrumentation. They use their ears, imagination and musical sensibility. If not, we could study baroque technique and all sound like Bach.

[fredericfranc]

@highlandsh ...still, would be very hard for the listener of a serial composition to put into practice what you are proposing...because they would be obligated to follow the tone row strictures that the composer who is following this practice is himself obligated to follow...for the listener, it is damn hard to do, unless they have assimilated the row beforehand...and how realistic is that?..

[gbeachy2010]

@fredericfranc I suppose a skilled listener could actually hear the sequence of a row but then, how many listeners to Beethoven hear the modulations and functional harmonies? You could miss the forest for the trees. Serial is a means to an end, there must still be music as a result of the system and that is what you want to hear, whether it is Cage, Ravel, Nancarrow or Orlando di Lasso.

[fredericfranc]

@gbeachy2010 I understand your:"...there must still be music as a result of the system..." but my comment is to Mr. highlandsh's: "..listen...hit a pause...try to imagine what comes next..." proposition. Try doing THAT in the case of a real stiff serial composition like Schoenberg's "Moses and Aaron"...if you can hear that kind of singing AHEAD of the composer to any effect, well, you are pretty freaking good...

[Melorama2000]

A very interesting slow interpretation. I wouldn't be able to get away with playing it THAT slow!

[sorwell]

But, well, it's an Andante... Meant to be slow, no ?

[Kurtyoungblood]

It would be great to ambulate to this... Haha

[Opoczynski]

Prokofiev: a visionary composer.

[dizygotegemini]

Briiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiant!

[acridplacidity3]

so darn slow, but it works. keeps me into it the whole time.

[geertdehoux]

@acridplacidity3

Well said.

[paulostroff99]

Breathtaking! Easily one of the finest pianists of the 20Th. century! A true genius! Bravo! TY.

[sorwell]

Extraordinaire.