Not Representative
grandpiano_57 | Burlington, CT USA | 12/13/1999
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Gould is a magnificent pianist and when he nails a work, he brings life and meaning to it in ways other pianists could only dream about. On this CD however, the approach taken on many of these pieces seems to defy the spirit of the youthful Beethoven. Beethoven was a virtuoso in his early days and it is hard to imagine the young fiery pianist taking the pieces of Opus 2 at the extremely slow tempo's Gould selects here. Any other performer (Brendel, Goode, A. Fischer) will give you a better representative performance of these pieces. Too make matters worse, when playing the Moonlight sonata Movement one, Gould decides to rush things! I must state again, I love Gould overall but he does not do these pieces justice here in regards to the composers intentions. Also, there are no liner notes."
Rushed? Wait a minute . . .
Bob | Mesa, AZ USA | 06/13/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This may be the only recording by anyone of the Moolight Sonata near the tempo that Beethoven wrote it at! Yes, Gould is quirky, and noisy and pretty wild with his interpretations, but at least he got this one right. And it was no mistake - I am sure he heard the triplet as a triplet rather than as a dirge. Listen to the theme in the bass and you will hear this famous piece as completely new. You have to give Gould credit for musical insight and recognize that, whether you are comfortable with what he did, it was done with thought and passion. This recording is valuable if only for the first movement of the 14th sonata. I think there is a lot more here to be thankful for and recommend it highly."