Glenn Gould - Ravel, La Valse (OFFICIAL)
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
- As host and performer, Gould outlines the music of the 20th century and combines it with the ideas and art of the period.
In this part of the programme "Music In Our Time - Part 2: The Flight From Order" Glenn Gould explores „La Valse" by the french composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937).
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00:00 Introduction by Glenn Gould
02:07 Poème choréographique - Zábava
I heard/saw him perform this live in 1962 when I was 11. I sat in row nine and watched his huge Steinway rocking back and forth about 9" as he imposed his will upon it. It was passionate, full of well-placed rubato and quite different from his Bach. When he finished, 4,400 people leapt to their feet literally cheering in thunderous applause as if it was a hockey game. Mr. Gould's hair was all over his face, he was covered in perspiration from head to toe, and even his suit was visibly drenched. I too was drenched in sweat and my heart pounding I was so moved. To this day it remains one of the most beautiful, yet horrendous performances I've ever witnessed.
How was it horrendous?
@@johntravena119 horrendous in a good way :)
I highly doubt this "story"
thank you for sharing that
@@johntravena119 horrendous by design 😈
Glenn Gould playing a piece that is about music spiraling into chaos is a delicious irony.
wow, I always come back to this performance. Really goes to show how Gould was not only as a pianist, but also arranger, composer, pedagogue
He was a pedagogue in the sense of lecturing on music. He said he wasn't interested in teaching people to play the piano.
@@MarilynCrosbie neither should he his technique is awful 😭
@@griffin__sutek4958 have to disagree. I think his surgical technique is what accommodates for his otherwise dull musicality.
We miss you Glenn 😭😭
Definitely, his music is eternal.
I've read or even watched some where that everyone was dying to watch this on release. Everyone couldn't believe Glenn Gould was playing La Valse.
Before I heard this, I had already cultivated a healthy respect for Mr Gould’s ability as a classical pianist based on other pieces I had heard him play. Having studied La Valse in school many years ago, I was already quite familiar with it. When I heard this, I realized that GG is THE greatest classical pianist I have ever had the privilege to listen to. He actually improves on Ravel’s single-player transcription, no easy task for even the best musical minds. He essentially becomes a one-man orchestra, fully capturing the essence of Ravel’s incredible composition. I would encourage anyone to becoming familiar with the orchestral version before listening to this as a piano is not an orchestra and certain passages can seem muddy or indiscernible. “...an idiomatic dilettante or a judicious assimilator of diverse influences...”, I’d say Mr Gould also had an exemplary command of the English language.
I think for me, he is the greatest pianist; "we can't listen to earlier pianists like Beethoven." It is interesting to hear this work because outside of the transcriptions of other musicians, Gould as far as I understand, did not really connect with Liszt: perhaps unlike many, he was not overwhelmed because of his technique and sheer talent. I don't know much about Ravel but some of this reminds me of Liszt - some of the base reminds me of studying Liszt's Funerailles, "also Chopin's Polonaise in Ab. It is also interesting to listen to Richard Strauss' modern yet nostalgic treatment of the Waltz in Der rosenkavalier which was written at about the same time.
I thought Ravel's music represented everything Gould despised, yet here he plays it with passion and appears totally absorbed in the wonderful sounds he is producing. Shame he didn't record Miroirs.
Ruth Laredo my favorite.
If he didn’t like Miroirs then he wouldn’t record it
Ravel's Biography stated he was a detached and dispassionate person by nature. His music is colourful but not overflowing with emotions like Chopin's music. I think Gould and Ravel were more similar than different.
I love Gould, he's one of the all time greats in my opinion. However, I don't necessarily agree with him on everything, he has some wild opinions that only make sense to him through his own way of viewing music.
He once said that Mozart became a bad composer later in life, I think some of Mozart's best stuff came from his last years, but Gould sees value in different musical terms to me and that's fine (Source: 'How Mozart Became a Bad Composer' - czcams.com/video/SHogW8FnFZM/video.html).
I just don't try and make sense of it and enjoy the few gems we have like this. I also found out he never actually wrote down this La Valse transcription, he took Ravel's transcription and scribbled pencil markings all over it in an effort to join the 3 staves into 2 hands. It's now in the Canadian National Library
@@nloc1929 Oh interesting!! If Im ever going to Canada that's were I'll go first
Mr Gould's voice is as melodic as his playing.....🏵️
Ravel is so beautiful. Each composer has his/her own taste based on his/her respective culture. Ravel, a Frenchman, definitely brings a resonance of French rhythms and melodies. So wonderful.
Pure musical genius, sorely missed
Hard to find words for such an incredible work
If there was any doubt about Gould the virtuoso. I think the pinnacle of piano playing has been reached.
It is so unusual to watch Glenn play this kind of repertoire.
I think it would’ve been so much fun to hear him play the Liszt and Chopin’s etudes. But one can only imagine so much.
Ideas like these make me really sad. Glenn could have easily been alive to this day. Imagine his use of computational music, His expanding repertoire... He went too young! We love you Glenn!
Compared to most versions of "La Valse" on the piano, I feel like this is less violent (perhaps because no glissando), sweeter, less showy, but sounds more like a waltz. I really like it.
@@AshleyPaul is faster and more fluid than others
There is a home recording of him playing Chopin etude op10 no2 one of the most difficult and he played it really well.
The music of Chopin did not convince him, and as for Liszt, one may glean an insight into Goulds opinion of him in the clip where he heaps praise on Sviatoslav Richter. Glenn mentions Richter as an example of the musician who acts as a conduit and direct link between the listener and the music, while he lists Liszt and Paganini as possible examples of musicians who above everything else are determined to make the audience aware of the relationship that the virtuouso has with the instrument.
He had a mischievous streak and was not afraid to mock music he did not like, the prime example being some of his recordings of Mozart. So as much as I love Goulds recordings of Bach, I am almost thankful that he did not record more than a few works of Chopin. He did record the 3rd Sonata, playing it in his own way of course. Which makes for interesting listening, and a viable alternative to some of the more overly rubato-laden interpretations. But that said, it is too extreme in the opposite direction for my taste.
This is one of the highest musicians that ever existed. He must have been an alien, and I want to visit his planet some day.
Gould is Gold
Oh how i miss you dear Glenn gold!!
The best pianist the world ever knew.
He sure is
He sure is one of the gods
Im quite sure you mistook him for Horowitz or Liszt, although he is a good pianist
His his tempo choices and his rhythm are very attractive. He humming at age 3 and could read music before he could talk. He also played each song in his head and could play from memory
@@justthememelordsnextdoor9120 Argerich!!!
there are many great pianists, but Glenn was in a class by himself.
This La Valse version is probably the best one out there.
Gryaznov's is on par with Gould's, IMHO
I love his brilliant interpretation this incredible piece! Ravel is a genius composer of the 20th century! Sorry my bad english, but I want to write about this miraculous music. Thanks!
You Englush good fine. No unhappy. Okay donkey, yay!
4:26 anyone especially those professors at the conservatoires who hate Glenn Gould would not deny his playing is so beautiful and romantic. He can do everything what normal pianists do but he just goes with his own way
Lang Kuai Very well seen & said! 👏👏👏
Indeed he knows how to play pianistically with the usual rubato, legato, and gradual dynamic control. He just chooses not to.
Who are those masters😉?
... there are reasons why people listen to Gould and why those professors would be out of a job if it weren't for nepotism, tenure and state sponsored schools.
@@SputnikExperiment What ARE you talking about...
In the wise yet still stubborn words of the oldest and wisest fella I've ever seen alive's rhetoric: "I didn't hear bach, I heard GOULD." Very true, Bernstein. That's what makes Gould a genius in my opinion; not evil nor crazed like many unlisteners think, but rather one that takes the earliest passions and adds upon them in the images and reflections of the composers who created them, yet not in the same exact pattern... listen to the flow, it's all there, yet so stumbling at certain points, like a pivoting jackhammer in the concrete let aloose... his handiwork literally surpasses expectations and destroys only to reconstruct original visions and dreams, crushing them into a gory pulp and amalgamation of original thoughts and neuronic flows... Gould is truly a master, bravo the greatest of the unknown!
Fancy pants ahh comment
Maestro Gould, perfect, as always ! Thanks for sharing this jewel. He is a watershed. Piano playing is before and after Maestro Glenn Gould.
Gould was definitely a genius, but Ravel was on a whole other level. On second thought, this was Gould's own transcription of the piece, so he probably was up there.
Gould is a genius
Thank you for sharing this beauty, interesting and didactic post.
I think this is not a "new" transcription of the work, but just the choices Glenn Gould had to make to give us what he thought to be the most convincing version of this piece! It's possible to follow his playing from Ravel's own version, that sort of indicates possibilities of adding some extra voices, writen for the orchestral version. For me he did basically choose which ones of these "possibilities" he would play or note! Anyway, is by far the best version for two hands available, and also showing much more "bone", structure than many of the two pianos versions, that sound beautifull, but a bit confused at times, including here Argerich/Freire's version, fantastic live, as the sound coming from the two pianos was pure beauty and delicacy, but a bit "blured" to me in the versions available here. With Gould we are always certain that the result is always a beautifull flow of music! Great genius! Greatlly missed! Bravo!!
GENIUS!!
oh glenn, what a miracle you were!
Amazing!!
Wonderful music.
What once and for all lowered my esteem for the judgment of Harold C. Schonberg was his sneering speculation that perhaps the reason why Glenn Gould denigrated certain examples of piano music written in the 19th century was that he lacked the technique to perform them.
This guy is articulate and eloquent... Salut
Simplement DIVIN ! Bravo Maestro.
Mi pobre vocabulario no me permite encontrar las palabras adecuadas para describir tanta belleza.
Gould - Ravel... Genios para la eternidad.
Undeniably a genius!!!
A fascinating transcription!
The always interesting thoughts of GG and his philosophy of various sound worlds.
Grazie per aver condiviso questo meraviglioso pezzo eseguito da un pianista prodigioso come Gould
La música invisible, intangible, inextricable, inmarcesible, en las manos del gran maestro Gould.
Perfect
If I am not wrong , Ravel was born near the border with Spain and his mother was Spanish. From a young age he was in contact with Spanish artists and he himself wrote a number of pieces based aspects of Spain. Some of those pieces are among the best known pieces composed by him.
Therefore, the affirmation of Ravel writing Rapsodie Espagnole, as an example of he composing about remote locations that he didnt know, is hilarious. It is one of those things that GG sometimes told rather randomly :-)) . It doesn't decrease his legend at all, in fact, it increases his legendary status! He was unique even in this "creative field"! 👍
Valid point, Ravel was born in Hendaye on the French Basque coast, very near to Spain. I've been at his birthplace this summer.
Ravel's mother, Marie Delouart, was a French Basque. Ravel was born in Ciboure, left there with three months, grew up in Paris and didn't come back to the Basque country until he was 25. Please, your intention is certainly good but just check the infos! Three posts I've been correcting for truth's sake haha
Several comments mention that Gould speaks too fast. Try setting the playback speed to .75x. That works for me and may help you, too. 😎🎹
Genius!!
Magnificent, left speeachless
...and he didn't even break a sweat...needless to say...Oh, that Gould person!
Out of this world...
Glenn is playing so fast that you can’t even really see his thumb hit that left hand A note after 13:16. At first I was like, why did that key press itself??
Hopefully, some transcription genius will be able to transcribe Gould's version to sheet music.
Maestro Gould !
My love! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
He could’ve done any music for silent movies. And will be the best one.
17 dislikes 😭 it's funny, even if you would find rare his interpretation or don't feel it, I think you can't press dislike just for pure respect to a huge musician and artist. It's an extraordinary performance by all means.
Great! I hear things I don't with other pianists.
Probably because this is Glenn Gould's own transcription, not the one by Ravel himself that everyone else plays
@@dhruvsawant9234 Yes, thanks. I didn't know he had transcribed it. I loved it. Thank you!
One fact about Ravel's life Gould seems to ignore is that he was born and grew up in Ciboure, in the southwest of France... nearly 10km from Spain! Hence his familiarity with Spanish traditional music
Ravel grew up in Paris, he's not been in the Basque country between 1 and 25 years old
This arrangement is profound in reducing a titanic work of orchestration to the possibilities of the piano. Gould did a more masterful job at this piano reduction than the composer himself, but this is not surprising, considering the demands intrinsic to Mr. Gould's piano version are near the pinnacle of virtuosity; Ravel's arrangement does not challenge the pianist to the same unrelenting degree.
Thanks, Bob.
Cool.
This is wonderful. Let me grab my dictionary.
Thesaurus!!!!!!!!!
No doubt, Gould was a great pianist: always among the best options to listen to (mostly his Bach recordings), and I love it when musicians dare arrange or compose something. I have to say, however, that even though this is a very interesting interpretation of this creative and exciting piece (always liked it) I find Mr. Gould's arrangement a little over-elaborate and his approach a little bit frenetic, perhaps (sincere and constructive criticism; he's not around anymore anyway, unfortunately). His usual genius phrasing in some slower parts, and impeccably performed but I felt a little tired at the end (too many overwhelming notes). I honestly like / prefer the most popular piano arrangement best. He was great, anyway... 🌹
Dedicato a tutti quelli che….Gould suona bene solo Bach! Immenso e geniale.
💙
Wow.
Благодарю!!!
I'm starting to see there was a rivalry friendly or not to educate the general public. So by 1973 proded by Gould, Bernstein in his Unanswered Question lectures from Harvard Bernstein produces the most no holds barred ambitious instance of Music Appreciateion education for the lay person ever conceived
Where is the sheet music for this revision?
Maravilha......
insane
Вот она ВЕЧНОСТЬ...
No Glissando! Unconventional but brilliant as ever!
😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
Ravel presented La Valse to Diaghilev as a piano duet as a work for ballet, and the latter found it to feel merely as a portrait of a ballet. The piano versions have always been a good deal more aggressive than the orchestrated symphonic version, which for some historians seems to be a “lost in translation” moment for why Diaghilev might have not found it to his taste. Ravel was a stickler for keeping steady time, and one can almost wonder if a combination of “heavy piano” and strict, mechanical performance might have been the nail in the coffin for Diaghilev. Had he heard Gould’s transcription and performance, would the results have been different?
Smashing luxury
Not fair about Spain -- Ravel grew up 20 miles from the Spanish border in Basque country, and his mother was Basque/Spanish!
I don't want to be rude, but Ravel grew up in Paris, never was in the Basque country between 1 and 25 years old and his mother Marie Delouart was a French Basque
Love how the way he plays reminds me that stereotype of macabre pianist who spend 24/7 practicing and has a hooked spine
Maurice Ravel re-deciphered again, for a better understanding of this very introverted idea of what feelings a waltz can arise when you're spinning and let your thoughts wandering, even if tempo brings you back to your own dancing
C O L O S S A L
I wish that there s a score of this transcription
La valse?
He wrote emendations into the published score of Ravel's own transcription, changing and amplifying what Ravel had written, but I don't think that this annotated score contains everything that he plays in his filmed performance. The score is in the Glenn Gould Archives. I don't know if one can have access to it. It would be nice if there were a photocopy of it.
I wonder if it were ever scored? I'm not too familiar with Gould's transcriptions, and if he ever scored them or just knew them by memory.
Jeez! It reminds me of "A Night on Bald Mountain!" Frenetic! Little elegance!
Gould is as well spoken as he is a music player
Le ballz
I think I take this one next as a year project, will see 🤔
Did you try it?
ㅁㅊ 굴드가 라발스도 했었다니...
Glen doesn't have the opportunity to wave his arms about in this piece. Very enjoyable.
Eppie Hemsley whatever that means
useless comment
I love when Glenn raised his arms around and conducted his own playing
Se llora de alegría también.
O no?
Если в исполнении Бориса Березовского,образы этого восхитительного Вальса мелькают,как фантастические видения,то Вальс у Гульда звучит более реально,несколько обыденно,но это мое субъективное мнение.
I don't have a clue what Glenn Gould is saying I never do when he is speaking but that is the least important thing he says everything through his playing
Of course, all Gould's fans will write to me that I'm an idiot, but I'll tell my honest opinion. Too small a dynamic range for impressionism, where everything rests on these smallest shades. He removed this smoothness and airiness of the sound. Sometimes the piano sounds like a technical mechanism. And I don't like that he excluded all those magical glisandos. Glen Gould is a great musician, but he is one of those who love himself in the composer, and not the composer in himself.
You say it like it's a bad thing.
This transcription is better than Ravel’s one.
This man died too young :(
Quelle joie de mépriser Strauss sans sourire….
Gene Krupa liked Ravel
Glenn: I’m gonna play La Valse better than God but first allow me to take the piss a little.
wtf is glenn doing with his left hand around 3:20 90% of those key presses sound totally inaudible when your foots on the sustain
Actually, every note is audible if you listen closely, although naturally quite blurred with the pedal down. Turn the volume up - you'll hear them.
but isn't that what he is trying to accomplish there?
seems like a talk from a musician to other musicians only.
Nah. He’s just stuffy.
@@RepJock88 No, not stuffy. He just had a passion for details and for precision - in his playing and in his speech.
no sorry... things are just dumbed down these days... he was a very intelligent speaker and he was speaking about a complex topic in a very clear and understandable way... and even if it was for musicians, so what?
I won't notice that this is 'La Valse' if there was no title.
I thought this guy ONLY played Bach!
You should check out his Brahms. He only did a little of it, but it's fabulous.
What...the...fuck.
Someone should have told him to slow down his rate of speech and to milk his vowels.
Lyle Waller you just need to get on his level 😂
@@nunziomeatballs - You mean like six feet under?
Lyle Waller You cruel man, Lyle. Glenn.
I have to agree, Glenn spoke much too rapidly especially considering the depth of what he usually was talking about.
Just set the play back speed to .75x and you can listen to his talk at a more comfortable pace.
😎🎹
Quelle étrange version ! Inhabituelle, inconfortable, mais extrêmement intéressante.
Wow. Gould used a LOT of pedal. Very unlike him.
He's a pianist. Pianists use pedals. Duh. And don't go wooshing anything either.
@@loluoresegun5844 He doesn't use any pedal when he plays Bach. That's what PointyTailofSatan meant.
@@DBoudewijnAussems bachs music sounds better without pedal and actually sounds bad with pedal as there are infinite non stop notes that have to be clearly heard its impossible with pedal
@@IgnacioClerici-mp5cy I know, I don 't use the pedal playing Bach, Scarlatti, even not with Haydn
@@DBoudewijnAussems LOL Gould use the forte pedal even for bach, it's more difficult to use with counterpontal pieces that's true. If you want to use the pedal you need to think about it as much you would think about the articulations.
If you don't believe me, you can watch on youtube his recordings of the e minor partita, the art of fugue and other pieces, Gould clearly use the pedal on Bach's pieces, you can see him pressing it down.
Well-played, but totally out of idiom.