Glenn Gould: Fuga XXII Across the Decades

This is an edit of 3 separate performances of the same Bach fugue, the Bb minor from book II, by Glenn Gould. Though there are a few less-than-elegant crossfades, the tempo for each excerpt is unaltered from the original, and are all remarkably similar. From the documentary "Glenn Gould and the 'Art' of Fugue" for the Oregon Bach Festival, by Sean Malone.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Glenn
• Gould
• Fugue
• Classical
• Counterpoint
• Bach
• Fuga
• Keyboard
• Piano

[amswesp]

Dear InterwaevingVoices. Not assuming anything at all, may I kindly ask you to share with the lot of us the amount of tempo editing and pitch editing you actually practiced in producing this amazingly interesting 22th fugue? Thanks a lot.

[InterweavingVoices]

@amswesp No pitch or tempo corrections were made -- the videos are all straight from the source material. As you can hear in places, the 1980 performance is at a slightly quicker tempo, but only slightly. The main problem had to do with the 1969 version, where at some structural points (e.g. cadences and/or the ends of formal sections) he sometimes introduced a slight decelerando—something atypical of his Bach performances in general. This made some transitions more challenging.

[trevjr]

i have a theory, having been Gould fan for over 35 years, each Bach piece has a personality. That 'person' does not change over time, so in addition to the notes being in his memory, every detail such as tempo is also stored in memory. This is different from his 2 recordings of the Goldbergs where he said he 'rethought' the piece for the 2nd recording. I love this fugue, the inversions and the end with the theme in 2 hands just a few beats apart, genius by Bach! genius by Gould!! FANTASTIC!

[quintos34]

This man was one of a kind, sheer genius..

Great post, thanks!!

[iguarni]

GGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN­NNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUUUUUUUSSS­!

[leandrusi]

@sapidpersona wat?



[TCharlieA]

I'm glad I can play without singing...that seems like it would be a crippling disability.

[googlekopfkind]

god would play it like that !

[layfon08]

Why cant there be more people like him rather than some 5 year children mechanically playing because there parents forced them to...He was a true genius and played with such accuracy and all of his songs were so cleanly done! Glen Gould is my role model

[trevjr]

@flippert0 gosh, i have to say that he didn't change. i am going to stick with my theory that he stored this perfomance in his brain in a way we dont understand yet. the difference i hear is recording quality. the 'personality' of the performance does not change. what is amazing is that he does this live with no splicing, no mistakes. can you even imagine the brain it takes to do this? in addition to the physical requirements. i have played this fugue, the separation of voices required is beyond

[legendbach]

The best Bach performer. No doubt.

[flippert0]

This comparison is very interesting, thanks for uploading!

The tempo is more or less the same across the decades, which is a stunning feat by Gould (but it could be argued that he does not try to reinterpret the piece much).

But the attack is much more full and softer in 80s while not losing any brilliancy and I think, this cannot attributed alone to the improved recording technique. Even a genius like Gould still matured during the years.

[Aargh28]

What a wonderful experiment. I don't think he changed at all over that period, although he was known for actually fiddling with the mechanism of his Steinway and that might actually be audible, although obviously the recording technology likely changed much more over the same period.