http://archive.org/details/InMemoriamGlennGould
pcast081- Playlist
===================================================================== English Commentary – le commentaire français suit
All through 2012, I have made several postings on Glenn Gould, in celebration of the double anniversary of his birth (1932) and death (1982). From his contributions as a pianist, or as a commentator and broadcaster, I hope to have brought to you a sense of how complex and invested an artist Mr. Gould was.
Today, more Gould at the piano, though I have purposely avoided Bach and Beethoven for today’s montage and concentrated rather on some other piano music: by renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, and by opera composer Georges Bizet. I could have explored others – Haydn and Richard Strauss come to mind. (Don’t despair, Gould fans, I plan one last kick at the Bach can in a few weeks in the form of a few short preludes and fugues).
Gould’s legacy as a composer is very modest – there’s So You Want To Write a Fugue, a curious radio experiment for voice…:
… And his string quartet which I have programmed for today’s montage. The quartet is both conventional and modern: conventional in its format and its distribution to all four players, yet modern, almost Schoenberg-like in its texture. From these two works, it is difficult to say whether Gould (had he lived to, maybe, compose some more) was as gifted a composer as he was as a pianist and artist.
The final work in our montage is, also, an homage to the passing of Gould by Canadian composer Alexina Louie. Originally commissioned by McGill University, this piece for strings is an attempt at portraying the “artist in contemplation”, with not-so-subtle references to Johann Sebastian Bach and Gustav Mahler. The original music clip that I imported from the Canadian Music Centre includes a short spoken introduction by Mrs. Louie where she provides her commentary, more than 20 years after the composition of the work and the passing of this great artist.
As a bonus, embedded in the French commentary, is another of the “massive” YouTube collages of piano sonatas recorded by Gould, this time of the complete Beethoven set.
I think you will love this music too
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Commentaire français
Toute l’année durant, j’ai proposé plusieures réflexions et compilations musicales mettant en vedette Glenn Gould, afin de souligner le double anniversaire de sa naissance (1932) et de on décès (1982).
J’ai essayé de couvrir l’ensemble des contributions de Gould en tant que pianiste et comme commentateur radiophonique, en plus de l’entendre dans Bach, Beethoven et autres compsiteurs. Voici, en prime, une intégrale des 32 somnates de Beethoven:
Pour ce montage « In memoriam », j’ai évité les sentiers battus, et j’ai opté pour des œuvres de compositeurs moins associés avec notre pianiste : Gibbons (avec Byrd) fut l’objet d’un album de musique de la renaissance émis originalement en 1971 . Les plaisantes variations de Georges Bizet sont, elles aussi, une agréable surprise et un rare écart pour Gould.
Gould a, à sa façon, contribué comme compositeur. Son œuvre, plutôt modeste, compte l’exercice polyphonique So You Want To Write a Fugue ainsi que son unique quatuor, composé au début des années 50 que j’ai inclus dans le montage d’aujourd’hui.
Finalement, un hommage posthume de la part de la Canadienne Alexina Louie. Commande de l’Université McGill, O Magnum Mysterium est un hommage à un grand artiste, avec des accents empruntés de Bach et Mahler.
J’ai inclus un huyperlien dans le commentaire anglais à la prestation originale accompagnée d’une introduction de Mme Louie.
Bonne écoute!
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