4 Ballades Op10/2 Rhaps Op79/1

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Composer : Johannes Brahms
Performer : Glenn Gould

Product Details

Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0074645265124
Label : Sony Music Canada Inc.
Number of Discs : 2
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 2006-04-03
UPC : 074645265124

ASIN : B0000028O2

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. 4 Ballades, Op.10: No.1 In D Minor
2. 4 Ballades, Op.10: No.2 In D Major
3. 4 Ballades, Op.10: No.3 In B Minor
4. 4 Ballades, Op.10: No.4 In B Major
5. 2 Rhapsodies, Op.79: No.1 In B Minor
6. 2 Rhapsodies, Op.79: No.2 In G Minor

Disc-2
1. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in E-flat major, Op. 117, No. 1
2. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in B-flat minor, Op. 117, No. 2
3. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in C-sharp minor, Op. 117, No. 3
4. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in E-flat minor, Op. 118, No. 6
5. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in E major, Op. 116, No. 4
6. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 76, No. 7
7. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 76, No. 6
8. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in B minor, Op. 119, No. 1
9. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 118, No. 1
10. 10 Intermezzi: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2

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Editorial Reviews

Glenn Gould's accounts of the late pieces, recorded in 1960, are among the most affecting statements he made. He manages to balance the music on the edge of an almost unbearable emotional intensity without becoming larmoyant or dipping into salon sentimentality. The result is downright disturbing and depressing. But few pianists have achieved such extraordinary distillations of Brahms's late style as Gould does here, conveying painful passion held in check and peering into the counterpoint, yet maintaining an overall fluidity within profound emotional stasis. The recording is very present. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews

LIKE NO OTHER (2004-07-14)

Gould was not too sure about Beethoven and downright contemptuous of Mozart, but about Brahms he entertained no doubts at all. Let me say without more ado that this disc has some of the greatest Brahms-playing I ever heard or ever expect to. If one thing more than any made an impression on me, it was his handling of the central part of the G minor rhapsody. This sequence is in a uniquely Brahmsian mood and tone, like the passages marked 'tranquillo' in the middle of the finale of the second symphony and in the slow section of the tragic overture. None of these are lyrical in style and Brahms doesn't actually say 'tranquillo' here in the rhapsody, but the feel is the same. The one thing I can put my finger on explicitly is the way Gould gives the right prominence to the monotonous triplet accompaniment, but there's more to it than that, and as the scripture has it 'the hair of my flesh stood up'.

Except in the two rhapsodies, Gould uses the sustaining pedal a great deal and to great effect. The first ballade made an impact right away. It's taken at a fair tempo for 'andante', just slower than I'm used to, and very emotional and theatrical. The other three don't lend themselves to the same kind of treatment, but my impression in all four was much more 'personal' than I get from Katchen or Michelangeli. There is a fair amount of rubato, but not as much as he makes it seem, if that makes sense. In the two rhapsodies the style of playing is distinctly different from the rest - less pedal and very little latitude in the tempo. This suits the B minor very well, I found. The G minor is taken at a fairly deliberate pace, and no wonder considering the composer indicates 'non troppo allegro'. As a rule I am no stickler for the observance of repeats, but this G minor rhapsody is so marvellously done that longed to hear the first section done again, and there was nothing else for it but just to repeat the whole thing.

By the end of the first disc I was beginning to suspect that I was going to find nothing eccentric or perverse in the entire recital. I needn't have worried. Gould becomes a little more wilful in the selection of ten intermezzi, but there was only one that I simply couldn't take. Oh the poor A major piece from op 76! What did it do to deserve this? It is one of my favourites of the lot, and it has more ways of perming 3 against 2 in the rhythm than I would otherwise have thought possible. I was a fair way into it before I could even recognise what I was listening to. Katchen always seemed to me a little unadventurous in his playing of it, but I shall go back to his account with relief not to say desperation after the mauling Gould dishes out. Elsewhere Gould's originality wins me over even when I'm used to a different approach. The B minor that stands first in op 119 is marked 'adagio', and both Katchen and even more so Serkin understand this as a really slow adagio. Gould made me think. Adagio in Brahms seems to vary in its meaning. The last section of the alto rhapsody is adagio but it must not be dragged, and one of the best performances I ever enjoyed of the slow movement of the violin concerto was by Kramer who took a very flowing tempo indeed. Again the second E major from op 116 (also adagio) is given a fanciful interpretation that absolutely delighted me, although I continue to admire the more normal manner of Kissin. The B flat minor is more low-key and and 'romantic' than in Horowitz's typically alert reading that I shall always love, but I find I can take it either way. The great A major from op118 is the last piece here, and I was gratified to hear Gould handle the middle section in much the way I try to do it myself. He makes the repeat (non-negotiable in this instance) and at the second time round he brings out the lower melody - indeed throughout the whole recital his voicing of those very Brahmsian inner parts is a consistent pleasure. In the E flat minor, surely one of the greatest things in the whole literature of the piano, his performance is quite awesome, and nothing short of this will ever satisfy me again. My own idea of the left-hand figuration in the middle section is staccato with very little pedal, which is not how Gould does it. I haven't lost my hankering for that, but until I hear it done like that by a player of less ill repute than myself I shall have to take Gould as my point of reference.

'This nut is a genius' was Szell's famous summing-up of Gould. The overwhelming impact of these two discs is of sheer raw greatness. The recorded sound is really very good, and if you can put up with the liner-note you will be able to read what it has to say not only in French and German as well as English, but also in Italian. The music has to go on to a second disc, although it means that each disc contains only just over 40 minutes' worth each. If it had been 4 minutes each of this quality I would still have wanted the set.

Another Outstanding GG Recording: A Universe of Stars... (2004-05-06)

I began my affair with GG approximately 30 years ago with the Bach and Mozart recordings. With each passing year my admiration for GG's art increases exponentially. It's really a blessing that Sony has reissued all GG's work with such elegance and clairity. There are other great keyboardists (e.g., Kempff; Schiff; Biggs; Lupu; Pires; Pollini; Arrau, et al.), but none can rival Gould: he is THE artist par excellence.

These Brahms recordings are wonderful in many ways. The Intermezzi are all from the year 1960. I was about to add, "when Gould was in his prime," but that would obscure the fact that GG's prime was from 1950 till his death in 1982, during which time his incredible critique and technique neither increased nor diminished: for thirty years he maintained an absolutely astral trajectory of aesthetic.

The 4 Ballades and 2 Rhapsodies were recorded the year of his death; yet, they reveal no morbidity nor diminution, but rather vitality and virility.

Of course, the Intermezzi are wonderful. Lupu and Kempff both recorded these very well too, but my vote is for GG with these. As to Ballades and Rhapsodies, GG's realizations are superb, and what particularly strikes me is Gould's synthesis of late-Romanticism and early-Modernism in these visions: Gould sees a gestalt of Brahms's, Berg's, Schoenberg's, Strauss's, Hindemith's, and Scriabin's piano works of c.1890-1930; and, if you listen very closely to GG's realizations of the aforementioned's oeuvre, you may see it too. For example, compare Brahms's 2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79 with Schoenberg's 2 Piano Pieces, Op. 33; or, compare the Brahms Ballades and Intermezzi with the piano work of Schoenberg's Songs, Opp. 2; 3; 6; 12; and especially the song-cycle, The Book of the Hanging Gardens, Op. 15. (The Schoenberg songs by GG are worth noting exclusively for their piano work alone.) Compare Berg's Sonata, Op. 1 with Scriabine's Sonata No. 5, Op. 53; compare Hindemith's song-cycle The Life of Mary with Strauss's Enoch Arden, etc.

All highly recommended.

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