Search - Franz Liszt, Glenn Gould :: Beethoven/Liszt: Symphony No.6, Op. 68, "Pastoral" (Piano Transcription)

The Essence Of The Sixth

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 09/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Glenn Gould CD features a wonderfully fresh recording of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, transcribed for solo piano by Franz Liszt. I'm sure I'm not alone in stating that Beethoven's Sixth is one of my favorite symphonies. To date with my classical collecting I've tried to settle on only one first rate version of each classical performance, but in the case of the Sixth I have three (so far) -- Bernstein/NYPO, Bohm/Vienna and the historic Toscanini/NBC set. One of my original reasons for buying these three different versions was to learn how classical performances differ from disc to disc, orchestra to orchestra. That same reasoning led me to purchase this album by Gould. In the exact opposite way that Stokowski expanded Bach's "Toccata And Fugue" for organ into a legendary modern performance for orchestra, Liszt has contracted Beethoven's Sixth and boiled it down to its essence for piano. Of course, one of the reasons that this works is Beethoven himself was a pianist. Liszt undoubtedly used this to his advantage when making this transcription. But Liszt adds some of his own flourishes as well to Beethoven's masterpiece. For example, the second movement has been expanded to over twenty minutes -- it is a full seven minutes longer here than it is on the Bernstein Century symphonic version. As far as Gould's playing goes, he turns in another magical, transcendental performance. Any fan of Beethoven's "Pastoral" will enjoy this CD."

Another Remarkable GG Recording...

G. Mccallum | 06/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a gorgeous recording wherein GG captures the realization of a gestalt--i.e., an overall unified aesthetic concept of the work of art from beginning to end: the individual movements are not considered as separate from the unity of the piece as a whole. The maintainence of an overall unity of vision in conceptual space-time is something which only a genius of GG's stature can achieve. To disparage his time scale as "too slow" is to utterly misunderstand his artisitic vision: this is what separates critic from cretin.By the way, if a complete set of Liszt's piano transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies is desired, Leslie Howard's on Hyperion is the one to get."

Beethoven Liszt piano transcription of Symphony No.6,op.68 b

G. Mccallum | Sidney, B.C., Canada | 08/05/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was sceptical of hearing a piano transcription of a Beethoven symphony,regardless of the pianist. I believe the original recording of the piano transcription of the Pastoral by Gould was in 1968, by the CBC for a radio broadcast. I am not a recording engineer and I know nothing of sound bits or dynamic ranges, I can only say that I was overwhelmed by the sensitive interpretation and the sound quality of this much-loved symphonic work. The closing movement, with the Shepherd's Hymn, is brilliant. In my opinion this is Glenn Gould at his absolute best."