Wes Crone writes:

>Not too long ago I heard the first two English Suites played back-to-back
>on the local classical station and was immensely disappointed to find out
>it was Glenn Gould tearing through them like hell.

Wes started his posting by quoting my statement that Bach's performance was
too fast and a losing one.  I just want to emphasize that I was referring
to his Allemande from Suite No.  2, not to the entire Suite.

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.  The flip side is that the Prelude and Courante from Suite No. 1 are
quite slow.  I don't necessarily disagree with my friend Wes, but Gould
does slow down now and then; when he is fast, his rate of success is about
50-50.

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.  Although it's easy enough
to find parts of Bach keyboard works where his performances are "clunkers",
there's also much great music-making going on in his hands.  I haven't yet
found a single artist who is superb in Bach's keyboard works at every
moment.  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.

Don Satz
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