Glenn
Gould
(1932-1982) Eccentric or Simply Pure Genius?
An essay
by Johann D'Souza
(Pictures from http://www.glenngould.com/)
Music teachers
loathe him for his interpretation of Bach, often stating that it is far
too fast, queer, extraordinary and often just so different. If
his interpretation is followed, students will likely fail in their exams
(that is if you can play at that breakneck speed in the first place) .
If his style is emulated at a competition the person would not make it
past the first round. I am inclined to believe that 98% of musicians follow
the crowd and 2% ever make differences. Glenn Gould is one of that 2%.
Gould has
been known as a rather "different" pianist. Recently I heard him in a
recording of the 48 Preludes and Fugues which I thought to be totally
bizarre. When I followed it with the score in hand, I was totally amazed
not only by his technique but was totally mesmerized by his phrasing.
He seemed to have seen a new dimension to this work which so many others
had failed to see.
Gould's
true genius surfaces when one can see his ability to see Bach from a total
new angle. Angela Hewitt, Frederic Gulda, Tatiana Nikolayeva and Rosalyn
Tureck, as teachers and exponents of Bach, do not show this different
"sense" of "brilliance" in the manner Gould saw "The 48".
Bach left
a lot of his works open to interpretation - no articulation markings,
expression and phrasing markings. A pianist learning Bach has to sculpt
his/her own phrasing - this is where Gould saw a new dimension many others
could not.
However
there are times when some of his performances did not find favour with
many. I for one do not like his introductory Prelude and Fugue from Book
1, where the Prelude is taken staccato.
Andras Schiff
has often commented about his own dislike for Gould’s interpretations.
While others may disagree with me totally, I would like to see it as being
purely a matter of different angles to the music. When Wanda Landowska
said, "You play Bach your way and I’ll play Bach his way", it illustrates
a very important point. But I am not very sure if Gould took to that belief.
Gould often
tuned his own piano, not unlike the other great virtuoso pianist Vladimir
Horowitz (you could tell the distinct sound of a Horowitz-ised piano),
but in a slightly different manner. This was to give the piano that particular
percussive sound that he wanted for his recordings.
Whether
in "live" or studio recordings, Gould's (in)famous murmuring along with
the main melody line often distracted the audience and orchestral players
- and not forgetting the conductors as well. Having bought my first recording
on cassette years ago, I was about to return it to the store when I read
somewhere that every recording had his murmuring/humming somewhere.
In recent
times, I have heard Fou Tsong and Dmitri Alexeev murmur/hum as well but
all in "live" performances. Gould, with his Canadian ancestry, was often
more relaxed doing his own thing and championing 20th-century works besides
playing a whole repertoire from the Baroque. It is surprising that he
was so at home with Bach and Haydn yet equally so with Webern, Bartók
and Stockhausen.
Many critics
have praised as well as condemned his interpretation of Bach works from
the simple Two- and Three-Part Inventions to The Art of Fugue.
The year 2000, being the 250th anniversary of Bach's passing, is bound
to see a flourish of releases on the composer and of this artiste in particular,
who had spent most of his life championing the composer.
Little is
known of Glenn Gould as a composer but he has written a well-known quartet
which was premiered by the members of the Cleveland String Quartet. Even
in preparation for this work, one of the quartet players vehemently displayed
his anger by asking Gould to either make up his mind if it was to be soft
or loud in a certain passage. This was when he constantly carried on verbosely
trying to explain phrases and articulation.
Gould love
to talk when he was in the mood and could ramble on for hours on the phone.
There is a story that he had rung up one of his friends (or perhaps his
manager) in the late evening one day and when his friend accidentally
fell asleep while listening to Gould. Six hours later, he (the
friend) was surprised upon awakening that Gould was still rambling away
oblivious.
His queer
semantics can often be seen in his beliefs and practices - it is said
that Gould hardly or close to never shook the hands of anyone for fear
that he would injure them. So at parties he would often carry a glass
in his right hand tightly and not release it. A sickly person by nature,
he constantly suffered from back/shoulder pains which often curtailed
his concert schedules. Although he was nursed by Eugene Ormandy’s orthopedic
surgeon nothing actually improved it.
Gould's
dressing was particularly odd in many respects, often using gloves in
summer. He was always constantly aware of the cool draft in the air and
always wanted to be in the confines of his home. He apparently loved women
but could never get a proper relationship going for long - I suppose this
stemmed from the fact that his intensity was too much for their liking,
notwithstanding his eccentricities.
It is such
a pity that Gould became addicted to the telephone. Many writers believe
that he would have made an excellent writer just judging by his letters.
In the book Glenn Gould: Selected Letters, his wit seemed to have
been carefully crafted as he wrote, “Reach for your most reliable sedative”
as he began his letter to the composer Otto Joachim. To his friend Diana
Menuhin he wrote, “[y]our letter was terribly welcome - all twelve illegible
pages of it.”
His renunciation
of concert hall performances led him to be a radio producer, but he never
travelled anywhere if it involved travelling by plane. I supposed the
loss of musicians the likes of Gienette Neveu and Benny Goodman to air
crashes scared the living daylights out of him.
I only wished
he had written down more of his thoughts on Bach and other composers so
that we could have greater insight into his musical mind.
Bibliography
Johann
D'Souza has stashed his cash under his pillow until the 14th of February
2001 - it should be safe then.
Gould’s eccentricities displayed themselves in the concert hall. He is
noted for bringing his own swivelling chair which was adjusted so low
that his whole frame was practically lower than the keyboard. He slouched
so close to the piano that even his arm movement and dexterity could be
hampered - many a great pianist would insist their students never do this.
Gould's utter genius was always coupled with the same amount of idiosyncrasy
in the same breath. He would often visit people and carry with him his
own soda water because he never drank any tap water. Surprisingly this
was considered eccentric in those times. Now of course, this is commonplace,
practiced by so many that the sales for Perrier, Evian, Aqua, etc, etc.
have skyrocketed.
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623: 9.10.1999. cor.10.1.2000 ©Johann D'Souza
Readers' Comments
From: Kian Hing (tuxcard@hotmail.com / Monday, January 3, 2000 at 22:35:32)
I myself have had the experience of failing a Bach prelude and fugue in the ABRSM pianoforte examination... by playing it Glenn Gould-style. However,I wouldn't have traded in my GG recordings for anything else.