Don Satz writes:

>Concerning Gould's tempos, it's not simply a matter of speed which
>detracts from the quality.  Some fast Gould tempos lead to great
>intrpretations; others do not.  In the first two English Suites, I feel
>that both Allemandes and the Sarabande from Suite No. 2 are excessively
>fast.

I remember the Allemandes being taken at warp speed and this really
ruined a lot of it for me because I consider these movements to be
some of the greatest ever written.  I do agree that Gould has made some
recordings which stand out above the rest.  Gould's performance/recording
of the Partita #1 in B-flat is probably my favorite of all interpretations
of that particular piece.  Same goes for the Partita #5 in G and basically
the rest of the set.  I guess it doesn't make much difference to me if he
took a whole suite at light speed or one movement.  What bothers me is how
fast he goes when he does decide to get rolling.

>I suppose I'm just being protective of Gould; he's not around to speak for
>himself, so I'll speak up for him at the moment.

I know what you mean.  Most people I talk to, pianists in particular
(strangely enough), have nothing good to say of Gould.  I know he has fans
out there but I rarely hear a good word spoken about his interpretations
or his bold statements regarding different composers.  I read in a People
magazine, printed very shortly before Gould's death, where he said
something along the lines of, "It took Mozart 30 tries to write a symphony
worth listening to." The whole interview was interesting and I am not sure
how close I am to the exact quote because it's been awhile.  I stick up for
Gould when people tell me he was terrible but I don't necessarily enjoy his
recordings outside the partitas.  Ever heard him performing Brahms? I have
a recording with Gould performing the Ballades and the 2 Rhapsodies.  These
are some of the worst performances I've ever heard.

>I haven't yet found a single artist who is superb in Bach's keyboard works
>at every moment.

If you ever find one please tell me.  I would shell out big money for
consistently amazing performances of Bach works.  This is just my opinion
but the only person to come close to all-around superb performances of an
entire genre of Bach's works is Lionel Rogg performing the organ works.
I'm sure many people would hiss at the very thought but I think he is
amazingly consistent.

>Gould may be "not so good" more often than some other artists, but his
>best readings are indefinitely memorable and I consider him one of the
>best Bach interpreters of the 20th century.

When you say best do you mean in the top 3 or top 5, top 10 maybe? One
person rising very high on my list surprised me from the moment I pressed
play on the cd player.  Keith Jarret's recording of the French Suites is
fantastic and I would like to hear some other Bach works performed by him.
I believe I bought the set around 5 years ago but haven't seen any other
Bach recordings by Jarret since then.  If they come close to the quality of
his French Suites interpretation then he may be very near #1 on my list.

Wes Crone