m***@gmail.com
2019-04-06 13:59:37 UTC
Does he or doesn't he use pedal with Bach?
I always had it in my head since I was a kid that Glenn Gould didn't use
He didn't even keep his feet near the pedals!
I have heard that Angela Hewitt uses absolutely no pedal with Bach, and I
can hear the absence of pedal. But this made me realize that (I think) Gould
did use pedal -- never to blend notes together, but sometimes to eliminate
gaps between (repeated) notes. It's very subtle. In particular, I'm
listening to Goldberg Variation #25 (I have only the newer recording). I
simply can't tell if it's pedal, acoustics, or something else, but at least
the first repeated notes have no gap. Hewitt clearly has a gap.
On the other hand, Variation #15 sounds distinctly pedalled.
Can anyone shed some light on this? I know a lot has been written about
Glenn Gould.
Ingo
Many of the world's greatest pianists use the pedal playing Bach. Martha Argerich, Glen Gould and Andras Schiff amongst many others. The trick is to do it subtly, which all of the above mentioned do. I have seen Martha Argerich perform the Partita in c minor live, and she definitely applied pedalling which you really had to focus on to see its utilization which was delicate and hardly audible.I always had it in my head since I was a kid that Glenn Gould didn't use
He didn't even keep his feet near the pedals!
I have heard that Angela Hewitt uses absolutely no pedal with Bach, and I
can hear the absence of pedal. But this made me realize that (I think) Gould
did use pedal -- never to blend notes together, but sometimes to eliminate
gaps between (repeated) notes. It's very subtle. In particular, I'm
listening to Goldberg Variation #25 (I have only the newer recording). I
simply can't tell if it's pedal, acoustics, or something else, but at least
the first repeated notes have no gap. Hewitt clearly has a gap.
On the other hand, Variation #15 sounds distinctly pedalled.
Can anyone shed some light on this? I know a lot has been written about
Glenn Gould.
Ingo