Glenn Gould, Beethoven, Liszt ‎– Piano Transcription: Symphony No. 6 (''Pastoral'')

This is my post from this week's Tuesday Blog.

This week, our lone Tuesday Blog share for July completes our two-part look at Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies, with a performance of the Pastoral Symphony.

For the past few months, we have been living through a pandemic and, as I considered musing about this week’s share, I got to wonder how Glenn Gould – a notorious germophobe – would have fared through a situation like this one. My conclusion is simple: I think he would done just fine, given he lived most of his final years in self-imposed lockdown, avoiding public gatherings and keeping very much to himself.

Today’s share is a Sony re-edition of a CBC Radio broadcast performance recorded: June 11, 1968. At a little over 55 minutes, Gould savoutrs every note, in a very internal performance. As this was recorded in his home studio in Toronto under his manic supervision, one has to think that this is a performance totally aligned with his vision of the work, with ever note in place.

Enjoy!

Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Piano transcriptions of Beethoven Symphonies, S. 464
Symphony No.6 in F Major, Op.68 'Pastoral' [S.464/6]
Glenn Gould, Piano

Sony Classical ‎– SMK 52637, Sony Classical ‎– WSK 52637
(The Glenn Gould Edition )
Released: 1993

Discogs - https://www.discogs.com/Beethoven-Li...lease/13505859

Internet Archive -  https://archive.org/details/liszt-transcription-of-beethovens-sy