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I love the man and his music but he has done some things that are truly awful in the name of 'interpretation.' So what do people think are Gould's successes, what are his gaffs ? Is/was he really the genius everyone thought he was? Should we condemn his musicianship or did his mind simply get in the way sometimes? To kick things off, I would like to say that I genuinely love most of his Brahms playing and his version of the Op. 79 Rhapsodies is still one of my favorites. Comments?

His recording of the Goldberg Variations is always on my mp3-player - even though in real life I play baroque music on baroque instruments

I sincerely feel that this man, Glenn Gould, had understood what music means to Man- its a way of life, nothing less. It requires great musicality and dedication to realize this. And he made Bach his way of life, not a way of entertainment or luxury. So, Gould played the works of compsoers in a different way. I personaly prefer the interpretations of sonatas of Beethoven by Serkin or Horowitz over Gould; but there was a reason why he declined repertoire by Liszt or Chopin later in his life.

We definitely cannot codemn his musicianship or anything. Pray tell what do you mean by 'awful things' he has done in the name of 'interpretation'?

ConBrio wrote: We definitely cannot codemn his musicianship or anything. Pray tell what do you mean by 'awful things' he has done in the name of 'interpretation'?

I do not in any way wish to condemn his musicianship myself, I am simply presenting two disparate attitudes about the man to spark debate. Personally I think Gould occasionally sabotaged himself by feeling pressured to make his interpretations exceptionally individual (since it was this trait along with formidable technical ability that made his Goldberg variations so famous). His infamous Appassionata recording or much of his Mozart (supposedly Gould hated Mozart, and criticized Beethoven's compositional techniques) are example of such sabotage. These recordings are so insanely different from the conventional tempi that the listener is distracted away from the beauty of the music.