Glenn Gould's transcription of Ravel's 'La Valse' 1/2

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The Ultimate performance of 'La Valse. As the story goes, told to me by a mutual friend J.S., Glenn Gould was slightly jealous of another God of the piano, Vladimir Horowitz, because of his renowned 'piano technique'. 'I can draw circles around Horowitz' he claimed, and recorded the Valse (not one of his favorite pieces) on Video to prove it. As a result we have been blessed with this masterpiece.

Channel: Music
Uploaded: January 13, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Author: stephenTGV

Length: 00:06:05
Rating: 4.93
Views: 43679

Tags: Gould Glenn Ravel Valse Bach Prokofiev Scriabin

Video Comments:
kiwibd (August 21, 2007 at 12:12 pm)
Gould is always very very imaginative and trying to bring new element to every music he played. But i certainly don't like this one.
mercianomad (August 6, 2007 at 5:01 am)
Astonishing adaptation in its pianistic resourcefulness, even with the Lisztian "flash & trash."

I will say this about the playing: It's muddy (partly because of the recording, but there's a sound wall there of his own making too). Despite what I said about the adaptation, he overdid the textures a bit. Anyway, Gould wasn't a "golden era" barnstormer like Horowitz, Hofmann, Friedman, etc, but this is at the very least evidence that he could have been quite formidable in that role. Impressive.
ghostwriter11 (July 20, 2007 at 11:53 am)
This version is fit for a saloon in Dodge City, circa 1925. Yes, its technically brilliant, but it's being played by a frigid Cannuck who dissects it like a pithed frog. If Gould ever went to Vienna, he didn't "get it." See Boris Berokovsky's version for a European reading with real life and feeling. What is this Glenn Gould cult all about, anyway?
Brianjonestown (July 21, 2007 at 10:00 pm)
Berezovsky isn't fit to lick the bottom of Gould's boots. And if this performance isn't your kinda thing, that's fine, but maybe you should learn to spell before you dismiss Gould's pianistic legacy.
ghostwriter11 (July 25, 2007 at 8:10 am)
Brianjonestown, sorry I misspelled Berezovsky, but it doesn't invalidate the point: Gould was cold (scarf and gloves while playing) and his reading of this piece is clinical. Vienna is all about lavish, wonderful, high-class schmatlz. I was a huge fan of Gould's first recording of the Goldberg Variations, but after hearing performers like Leonhardt, Gould seems dry as two-day-old toast. He's arrogant, pretentious, aloof, and frankly no fun. A genius? Yes. A great intepreter of Ravel? No.
Brianjonestown (July 25, 2007 at 4:31 pm)
Very funny, but you also misspelled "Canuck" while trying to insult a Canadian. You can dislike the performance but you have no basis in calling it "clinical" because it was his own arrangement. Moreover, unlike you, Gould was not hogtied by sentimental notions of "what Vienna is all about" in the way he approached the work. If you don't like this, then navigate away from Gould instead of screaming your ignorance.
Brianjonestown (July 25, 2007 at 4:37 pm)
And hey, if you honestly and truly believe Gould's Bach sounds dry compared to a throwback period-instrument fetishist like Leonhardt, then you've killed any argument in its tracks. Rock and roll with whatever blows your hair back, kid. You can yawn in perpetuity.
ghostwriter11 (July 27, 2007 at 10:16 am)
You win: Glenn Gould is the pinnacle of Canadian culture, Kids in the Hall being a close second.
tobiasjag (July 29, 2007 at 6:32 am)
Berezowsky's interpretation of La Valse is not sentimental, is quick dry, it is definatelly how a Waltz should be interpretaded. A few months ago in rio there was a piano recital in honor of Sergei Dorensky and in this festival Pavel Nersessian played La Vlase wonderfully, much more better than Berezowsky. If you want to hear it I have the mp3, just give me your email.
tobiasjag (July 29, 2007 at 6:33 am)
I'm sorry, *it is definatelly NOT how a waltz should be interpretaded