Bob Dubois wrote:

>It was really interesting, except one thing: the Goldberg Variationen
>were performed by Glenn Gould.  He's playing very well, I have to agree,
>but it's very irritating he always singing the pieces.  When I hear him
>play, I always turn off the radio for a while, I think he's the perfect
>example of showing now respect at all for the composer!

Look, Glenn Gould sang.  Toscanini sang.  Andrew Litton hops up and down.
Lenny B danced.  Get over it!  Everyone knows that Gould hummed and grunted
along.  He was totally oblivious to his own actions and swore that he could
neither help himself nor that he was aware of his singing while in the heat
of the moment.  You know that going in so blow it off and enjoy some
fabulous finger work.

As for his disrespect for composers, this is nonsense.  I know of no other
performer who strove so hard to find the meaning and proper interpretation
of a piece of music.  He tried experiment after experiment until he came
up with that he truly believed the composer was trying to relate.  He spent
far more time doing research about his pieces then the current crop of
thunder heads who crank our cookie cutter renditions of all the standard
rep.  At least when you listen to Gould, you get something that is original
and thought out and by-God interesting too.  I'll take him over the current
crop any day, singing and all!

Kevin Sutton