Gould/Beethoven Sonata No.13 in E-flat major, op.27 No.1
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- Опубликовано: 6 авг 2021
- Conversations with Glenn Gould on the telephone usually took place in the evenings, sometimes early and other times late at nite. One of those happened in early September 1981. Glenn was in a particularly happy mood. Why? He had just finished taping what would become the last Beethoven recording session of his life, the two Sonatas numbers 12 & 13. He was also acting as a co-producer with Andrew Kazdin and he took an obvious pride in this new aspect of his professional life. Kazdin, on the other hand, was not totally pleased with this agreement. He felt more like an obediant servant to "the" master. I met Mr.Kazdin once in his hotel room in Toronto. To say that he did not look like a happy camper would be an understatement.
Of the two Sonatas he had just completed editing, Gould was extremely proud of the E-flat one, the twin pairing by Beethoven with the so-called "Moonlight". "I really enjoyed playing that Sonata, from beginning to end" Gould was telling me, in a tone reminiscent of a young student saying to his teacher that he was more than satisfied with a job well done.
Both Sonatas, op.27 No.1 and No.2, are subtitled "quasi una fantasia" by Beethoven - "sonata in the manner of a fantasy". While we cannot know precisely why Beethoven used this description for the two Op. 27 sonatas, several explanations are available. In the case of No.1 (though not its companion), the entire sonata is played continuously without pauses between movements, in the manner of most fantasias. The movements are not in the usual order for a sonata: the opening movement is a slow movement and the scherzo and slow movement are in inverted order. The first movement is not in sonata form, as is true for most sonatas. The movements are in extreme contrast with each other, a common trait of the sections of a fantasia. Lastly, the appearance of a quotation from one movement within another (here, from the third movement within the fourth) is a form of freedom not ordinarily employed in classical sonatas.
As is his custom Gould takes many liberties with the score and he does a lot of expressive traits in stressing the Beethoven markings, such as the constant "attaca" passages in the first three movements. Of particular interest are the marvelous long silences in a few instances -at the end of the first and fourth movements, creating a kind of suspense that Gould strongly believed in for Mozart and Beethoven dramatic works.
I. Andante - Allegro - Tempo I - attaca 7'52"
II. Allegro molto e vivace - attaca 2'01"
III. Adagio con espressione - attaca 3'47"
IV. Allegro vivace 7'19"
Picture shows what Beethoven looked like in 1801 when he wrote op.27.
Please keep publishing these marvelous clips and stories about Gould! I am fascinated by his life...
It is tragic that nobody has found a recording of one of Beethoven's sonatas that Gould had a storied interpretation of; I think it was in A Major...
Interpretazione geniale, quella di Glenn Gould, che apre inaudite prospettive e che però quasi nessuno dei pianisti delle ultime generazioni è stato in grado di raccogliere e sviluppare. Ogni singola nota ha un suo "peso specifico" che si inserisce in un fraseggio che coglie l'intima essenza della poetica beethoveniana. E' vero: c'è qua e là un vago scimmiottamento della scrittura beethoveniana.............ma funziona meravigliosamente. Come spesso accade in Gould, l'invenzione di nuovi "legato" e "staccato" conferisce una cifra stilistica rivoluzionaria.
This is the only performance of this sonata I'll listen to. Everyone else plays it wrong.
One of Gould's last recordings.
The 1st movement (marked andante but played adagissimo) is bizarre but beautiful. But then the allegro passage at 4:18 is off-the-charts gorgeous!
No one has ever played the 2nd movement better. The clarity, the drive, the astonishing variety of detaché articulation. It's one of Gould's miracle performances.
The adagio 3rd movement is slower than most performances, and stricter rhythmically, but Gould's tone and voicing are simply beautiful.
The 4th movement is not quite up to the tempo of allegro vivace, but no matter. What fun Gould is having!
This performance is one of the triumphs of his later performances. Thank you for posting!
A literal staccato. You don't hear that very often with Beethoven Sonatas.
00:00 I. Andante - Allegro - Tempo I - attaca
07:52 II. Allegro molto e vivace - attaca
09:53 III. Adagio con espressione - attaca
13:40 IV. Allegro vivace
Underrated AF
Extraordinary!
So, the Moonlight Sonata did not appear alone as Beethoven's opus 27 but as a number 2 to a number 1, this sonata. Let's have an interview with Mr. Beethoven about this. I've played this but to hear Gould is to enter another world altogether.
Wonderful
grazie
Again, dude, you love Gould. I do too. grazie.
A Glenn Gould phone conversation? Not only do I wonder what it’s like but also if you need to pay for long phone conversations, the bill.
His phone bills routinely ran to four figures; from January through September of 1982, his last year, his phone bill ran to nearly 13 thousand dollars.
@@danielpoulin9030 13,000 dollars.
He probably paid more in phone bills than for his piano.
@@danielpoulin9030 $13,000 in 1980 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $41,788.85, says The Almighty Google.
Much of this sounds merely weird, kind of like a kid tearing the wings off flies--because he can.
7:45
Too slow.