[CAUT] Glenn Gould/Bach stuff

[Andy Rudoff]

 >I *refuse* to believe someone didn't hear this.
 >
 >Especially Glenn.

Michelle,

I am a huge Glenn Gould fan and own just about everything he ever recorded.
But many of his recordings are controversial, some because he made unusual
choices about tempo or style, some because people don't like his humming.

But the Two and Three Part Inventions is one of the most controversial
and die hard fans like me know the story.  His piano, a Steinway known
as "CD 318" had been dropped, ruined.  His piano technician told him
it was totaled.  Glenn himself fiddled with it and probably didn't
help the situation.  But he insisted on recording the Inventions using
that piano.  When Columbia released the recording, they included a
sort of apologetic note about the piano noises.

Thankfully Gould was eventually convinced to give up on that piano.
For example, his second (digital) of the Goldberg Variations was
on a Yamaha CFIII.

Like many, you'll probably end up either loving Gould's style or
hating it.  I don't even hear the humming and other noises anymore,
but then I am a long-time Gould convert.

-andy