Berg and Ravel: a happy combination

I'm listening to more of The Juilliard String Quartet's 15 CD set The Early Columbia Recordings 1949-56.

Alban Berg: Lyric Suite; Maurice Ravel: Quartet in F Major

The Early Recordings set continues with two 10" LPs combined in one CD. The Berg was recorded in August of 1950, while the Ravel is from February of 1951. Unfortunately, the CD is included here in the Berg slipcase, mimicking the LP sleeve, so there's a cover and liner notes for that work, but not the Ravel. I was able to track down the Ravel front cover from an eBay listing, but haven't come across the back cover. 

The Juilliard Quartet recorded the Berg Lyric Suite at least two other times: for RCA in 1961 (with works by Webern), and a live Italian Swiss Radio-Television recording with Beethoven's final Quartet, op. 135. More than one reviewer for these three recordings has commented that the Juilliard's emphasis is very much on the lyrical side of this music, rather than the more emotional, expressionist side. I was captivated by this recording, the Juilliards' first recording!

As to the Ravel, the standard LP coupling is of course, the Debussy String Quartet, and that's what Columbia released from the Juilliard Quartet in 1971. This coupling is a propos because Ravel's model was the Debussy Quartet, and instructive because of how different the two works sound in the end, each composer going in a different direction from a common beginning. Meanwhile, back in 1950, the Juilliard's recording of the Ravel Quartet on the 10" LP is remarkable. Perhaps it's partially because of this juxtaposition with the Berg, but this music sounds fresh and alive and modern. This is one of my favourite CDs in the Early Recordings set.

With Love from Stewart Goodyear

Stewart Goodyear: piano works by Gibbons, Sweelinck, Bach, Brahms, Berg

On January 11, 1955 Glenn Gould made his New York debut (what he called his "Debutown") at Town Hall, and on the following day he signed a recording contract with Columbia Records. His 27 years in the recording studio before his untimely death in 1982 made him a legend around the world, but here in Canada he is especially admired and loved. One of those hero-worshippers is Stewart Goodyear, born and raised in Toronto, and an alumnus, like Gould, of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Goodyear has recently been playing in concert many of the works from Gould's audacious programme in New York, and in his American debut earlier that year in Washington DC.

Glenn Gould's debut concert at Town Hall, January 11, 1955. Library & Archives Canada

Now we have this new Sono Luminus disc with many of those pieces: music by Gibbons, Bach (Sinfonias from the 3-Part Inventions and the 5th Partita) and Berg (his Piano Sonata op.1). He's also included two Brahms Intermezzi and to close, the ultimate Gould tribute, the Aria from The Goldberg Variations. I love Gould's Brahms; those who think of him as a capricious and detached artist should listen to his 1961 recording of 10 Intermezzi, which he referred to as "the sexiest interpretation of Brahms’s Intermezzi you’ve ever heard". He also said it was "perhaps the best piano playing I have done." Goodyear's own Intermezzo in A major, op. 118 no. 2 is as rapturous and full-blooded as Gould's, full of a deep understanding of Brahms and a fitting tribute to Gould in the bargain.



It was surprising to notice how slow some of Glenn Gould's tempi were in his recordings of the early English masters. His 1971 recording of Orlando Gibbons' "Lord of Salisbury" Pavan and Galliard runs about the same length as Goodyear's in spite of the fact that the latter includes repeats that Gould doesn't. Goodyear's zippier version makes more musical sense, I think. Though I do love Gould's whole album A Consort of Musicke bye William Byrde and Orlando Gibbons, it's a bit out in left field even by the standards of its day, much less when looked at through any modern historically informed practice lens. 

Thank goodness we're finally beyond looking at Glenn Gould as the mere sum of his eccentricities. We have a much better idea of the whole person: his emotional responses to people as well as pianos, and the full measure of his mastery in so many dimensions of great artists like Bach and Brahms. It's this response to the complete artist that makes Goodyear's tribute so important; it's based on a study of the deep roots of Gould's art, and not the externalities. As well, it's obviously heartfelt. The best expression of this love is the last piece on the disc, the Aria from the Goldberg Variations. Goodyear's moving performance takes the middle ground between the bright, almost coltish first version Gould made at the beginning of his recording journey, and the solemn, heart-breaking one he made close to the end. What a marvellous way to celebrate our Glenn!

This disc will be released on March 23, 2018.

A superb Blu-ray Wozzeck

My response to the new Blu-ray disc of Alban Berg's great opera Wozzeck: unadulterated superlatives, for everything about the music lead by Fabio Luisi; and for the stage direction of Andreas Homoki, the set design by Michael Levine and the video production by Accentus Music. This is as fine a production of this artistic peak of the 20th century as you can imagine. The singing and acting of the principles is top-notch, with a special performance by Christian Gerhaher as the title character. There are no holds barred in this imaginative and expressive production; it's deeply uncomfortable but ultimately moving.

Here is the trailer for the disc: