Music, Art and Literature at Harpers.org
August 15, 2010 10:18 AM Subscribe
Scott Horton writes at harpers.org on most weekends posts about music and literature. Typically he'll post poems or philosophy (and often translate same from one of the many languages he's, apparently, fluent in) and link to youtube clips of music to complement the passages he writes about, along with images of classical paintings. Pretty neat. This weekend the clips are Glenn Gould playing Beethoven's Sonata No. 17, op. 31, no. 2 (1802)(the “Tempest”) tied to a passage by Hegel. And Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and its lyrics which were written by someone named Kuffner. Check it out.
Nice. This is, I think, the first time I've seen film of Gould playing Beethoven. I've seen many films of him interpreting Bach and it's interesting to note that all of the signature tics and gestures are present. Again, very nice, thanks!
posted by TDavis at 10:59 AM on August 15, 2010
posted by TDavis at 10:59 AM on August 15, 2010
Though you'd probably want to hear just about anybody play that sonata but Glenn Gould, snipping away all the emotion with his autistic rat-a-tat-tat.
lol. is there any thread you can't troll? on the other hand, Glenn Gould is for the most part making fun of Beethoven from a post WWII formalist perspective when he's playing the piano sonatas which makes it kind of a nice endnote to the discussion of Hegel i.e. the 20th century treating the 19th with contempt.
posted by ennui.bz at 11:03 AM on August 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
lol. is there any thread you can't troll? on the other hand, Glenn Gould is for the most part making fun of Beethoven from a post WWII formalist perspective when he's playing the piano sonatas which makes it kind of a nice endnote to the discussion of Hegel i.e. the 20th century treating the 19th with contempt.
posted by ennui.bz at 11:03 AM on August 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
The contrast of this post with your username is the opposite of eponysterical. I love it.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:11 AM on August 15, 2010
posted by Countess Elena at 11:11 AM on August 15, 2010
Faze: "Though you'd probably want to hear just about anybody play that sonata but Glenn Gould, snipping away all the emotion with his autistic rat-a-tat-tat."
Stay classy, Faze.
posted by ShawnStruck at 11:35 AM on August 15, 2010
Stay classy, Faze.
posted by ShawnStruck at 11:35 AM on August 15, 2010
Thanks to the troll, I just read up on Gould for the first time and am the better for it. Thanks for the link, fartknocker (no offense).
posted by joe lisboa at 12:05 PM on August 15, 2010
posted by joe lisboa at 12:05 PM on August 15, 2010
I loved this. Thank you so much, fartknocker!
Gould's performances were the perfect illustration for the concept presented. My limited understanding of Gould is that he felt that individual interpretation was critical in order to keep performance from devolving into nothing more than a competition to see who could best replicate the original intent of the composer. Does the artistic process end with the composer? Can the performance also be art?
For the real matter is not consumed in its purpose, but rather in its realization; neither is the result in and of itself the true whole, but rather result combined with the process that led to it.
posted by gimli at 12:09 PM on August 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Gould's performances were the perfect illustration for the concept presented. My limited understanding of Gould is that he felt that individual interpretation was critical in order to keep performance from devolving into nothing more than a competition to see who could best replicate the original intent of the composer. Does the artistic process end with the composer? Can the performance also be art?
For the real matter is not consumed in its purpose, but rather in its realization; neither is the result in and of itself the true whole, but rather result combined with the process that led to it.
posted by gimli at 12:09 PM on August 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you click the "No Comment" link just below the Harper's logotype, and then scroll to the bottom, many more can be found in the archives, like Tchaikovsky/Khomyakov—Heroism, Tolstoy—The Human River, Blake—America, a Prophecy, Kennedy—The Ripple of Hope... and a lot more.
Cheers
posted by fartknocker at 1:27 PM on August 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
Cheers
posted by fartknocker at 1:27 PM on August 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
Great post. This is a lovely confluence of potential heroes and semi-heroes, Horton, Hegel, Gould, Beethoven, fartknocker (heh).
A couple of thoughts: In that second clip for Sonata Op. 31 N. 2 - II Adagio, at around the 2:20 mark, I dare you not to hear the theme for The Flintstones.
Also, Gould plays with the intensity and feel of Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three (I'm sure if anything it's the other way around), also he makes the piece sound downright relevant and fresh. So much Beethoven, Mozart for that matter, sounds like stilted cloying obsequious patron (I.e.: Royals) ass-kissing. So much so that a lot of the time, I almost wonder if the bum-burnishing is not perhaps tongue in cheek. Gould unsweetens and gives the piece some quite not insignificant vitality.
Anyhow, so yeah, The Flintstones at 2:20 of the second YT clip.
posted by Skygazer at 1:34 PM on August 15, 2010
A couple of thoughts: In that second clip for Sonata Op. 31 N. 2 - II Adagio, at around the 2:20 mark, I dare you not to hear the theme for The Flintstones.
Also, Gould plays with the intensity and feel of Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three (I'm sure if anything it's the other way around), also he makes the piece sound downright relevant and fresh. So much Beethoven, Mozart for that matter, sounds like stilted cloying obsequious patron (I.e.: Royals) ass-kissing. So much so that a lot of the time, I almost wonder if the bum-burnishing is not perhaps tongue in cheek. Gould unsweetens and gives the piece some quite not insignificant vitality.
Anyhow, so yeah, The Flintstones at 2:20 of the second YT clip.
posted by Skygazer at 1:34 PM on August 15, 2010
Anyhow, I love Harpers so much I gave a subscription to everyone in my family and extended family, hows that for doing my part in keepin dead trees alive and in the sweaty hands of people....
posted by Skygazer at 1:35 PM on August 15, 2010
posted by Skygazer at 1:35 PM on August 15, 2010
I love Scott Horton's blog. I also love Glenn Gould. I was happy to see this weekend's offerings.
You can go on all you like about criticism of Glenn Gould. The amount of information conveyed in a Gould performance always makes for a worthwhile listening experience.
posted by grounded at 1:37 PM on August 15, 2010
You can go on all you like about criticism of Glenn Gould. The amount of information conveyed in a Gould performance always makes for a worthwhile listening experience.
posted by grounded at 1:37 PM on August 15, 2010
You know, one more observation on Gould: He plays like he wants the notes and eddies and currents and themes and sub-themes that are in the piece have a relationship to one another.
It is awesome. Perhaps a reason why a lot of Beethoven sounds so saccharine to me is the reverence and blind faith musicians show towards his compositions, as they seek a Dionysian perfection etc...
It suffocates the music. Gould opens that up...
Anyhow, interesting always the spilt between right brain creatives and left brain virtuoso's or is it left brain creatives and right brain virtuoso's, I forget.
posted by Skygazer at 1:44 PM on August 15, 2010
It is awesome. Perhaps a reason why a lot of Beethoven sounds so saccharine to me is the reverence and blind faith musicians show towards his compositions, as they seek a Dionysian perfection etc...
It suffocates the music. Gould opens that up...
Anyhow, interesting always the spilt between right brain creatives and left brain virtuoso's or is it left brain creatives and right brain virtuoso's, I forget.
posted by Skygazer at 1:44 PM on August 15, 2010
No Comment is consistently excellent. Great post.
posted by homunculus at 1:54 PM on August 15, 2010
posted by homunculus at 1:54 PM on August 15, 2010
Wow, Glenn Gould ... the Tarantino of the piano. Or should that be, Peckinpah of the piano. Oh well.
I think I know just what Nadia Boulanger would have done with him.
posted by Twang at 8:59 PM on August 15, 2010
I think I know just what Nadia Boulanger would have done with him.
posted by Twang at 8:59 PM on August 15, 2010
« Older In Praise of Fast Food | One Big Interdependant System Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Faze at 10:49 AM on August 15, 2010