Jeff Buttle music question
- Thread starter MissCleo
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- Mar 14, 2006
You are definitely right about Wagner and Bach. It starts with Tristan & Isolde and then is mostly Bach except for that dissonant middle section which I believe is one of Gould's own compositions (tho' I could be wrong).
Now with my bad memory and inability to play my Gould LPs I can't get any further than that on my own but this is the kind of game a pianist friend/fellow Gould lover likes to play so I'll see if I can pin down the Bach pieces for you. Just for fun.
OK, the first Bach piece is definitely from Goldberg Variations but I don't know which variation or which recording (there are 2).
Now with my bad memory and inability to play my Gould LPs I can't get any further than that on my own but this is the kind of game a pianist friend/fellow Gould lover likes to play so I'll see if I can pin down the Bach pieces for you. Just for fun.
OK, the first Bach piece is definitely from Goldberg Variations but I don't know which variation or which recording (there are 2).
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- Mar 14, 2006
Well, we didn't get much further. The next Bach piece is the C minor prelude from book 1 of the Preludes & Fugues. My friend didn't know what the ugly music was and so I still hold that it is probably by Gould himself. (The commentators were talking about Scriabin but it didn't sound like S. to me - maybe they were referring to another skater's program or other Buttle program.)
And the last one is either some keyboard concerto of Bach (the commentators were saying that too) or maybe a piece of Handel, we aren't sure. But I don't think there are too many Bach keyboard concerti so enjoy the search! You can listen to lots of snippets via Amazon...
Happy to help.
And the last one is either some keyboard concerto of Bach (the commentators were saying that too) or maybe a piece of Handel, we aren't sure. But I don't think there are too many Bach keyboard concerti so enjoy the search! You can listen to lots of snippets via Amazon...
Happy to help.
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- Jul 26, 2003
The musical selections for the Gould Tribute were Wagner's Prelude to Tristan and Isolde with two piano cuts by Schoenberg (Six Pieces for Piano?) and Scriabin (Deux Morceaux), the 16th Variation from Bach's Goldberg Variations, No. 2 in C Minor (Prelude) from Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier Book 1, Schoenberg's Suite for Piano Op. 25 (Gigue), and the Adagio from Bach's Concerto In D Minor After Alessandro Marcello. I believe the last piece was based on an oboe concerto by Marcello. Bach did a number of these transcriptions including a great one for four harpsichords of one of Vivaldi's Concerti Grosso.
It's the second (1981) recording of Goldberg Variations, which was 21 seconds slower in this variation.
It's the second (1981) recording of Goldberg Variations, which was 21 seconds slower in this variation.
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Hats off! How did you find that out, if you don't mind revealing your secrets?
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- Jul 28, 2003
I am hoping that Jeff will eventually perfect this program. He says he usually does like to revisit programs he struggled with and master them. I think this program is really interesting choreographically speaking and musically. I am sure Jeff will get it under his belt one of these days. It would be great to see it again.
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The Wagner was familiar. I knew I had all of the Bach on CD's, and went back to verify which pieces or for Goldberg, the number of the variation. (I have both of the Gould recordings of Goldberg.) I also thought I recognized that the piano music was likely Schoenberg or Webern, and looked up to see what Gould recorded for these composers. I was able to recognize them from CD's I have (other pianists) and from clips on sites like Amazon. I read somewhere about the Scriabin, which I didn't recognizeSpun Silver said:
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- Mar 14, 2006
You sound like a musician! Can you explain the Tristan connection to Gould? It's not in his discography online exc. as soundtrack to the movie "32 pieces" but I heard some piano in it. Did he tinker with it? That seems odd. Or did I somehow miss that there was a piano in T & I all along?
Did you (or others) think the music in this program was well put together? I did not. I was excited at the idea of a Gould tribute so thanks to cleopatra for making me aware of it, but was not very enthusiastic about either the choreography or the music editing.
Did you (or others) think the music in this program was well put together? I did not. I was excited at the idea of a Gould tribute so thanks to cleopatra for making me aware of it, but was not very enthusiastic about either the choreography or the music editing.
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- Jul 26, 2003
Not a musician, but a classical music lover. There is no piano in the Wagner; that was cut in. My VCR is in storage, and I don't have the Gould film on DVD. In the back of my mind, I seem to remember the Wagner with piano version being part of the film, but I can't verify it.
I read that Wilson and Buttle started with the last piece, but felt it was too soft to use for the entire program. My general feeling about the program was that instead of putting a dissonant Schoenberg piece in the middle of several Bach pieces, there should have been one or two other pieces contrasting with the Schoenberg in addition to the final Bach. Gould recorded Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Strauss, Mendelssohn, et. al.; there was plenty from which to choose. Otherwise, I think they should have stuck with Bach, at least after the Wagner.
I read that Wilson and Buttle started with the last piece, but felt it was too soft to use for the entire program. My general feeling about the program was that instead of putting a dissonant Schoenberg piece in the middle of several Bach pieces, there should have been one or two other pieces contrasting with the Schoenberg in addition to the final Bach. Gould recorded Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Strauss, Mendelssohn, et. al.; there was plenty from which to choose. Otherwise, I think they should have stuck with Bach, at least after the Wagner.
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- Jul 26, 2003
He said he never really felt the middle section, particularly the jumps, and this gave him all sorts of problems.cleopatra20042004 said:
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- Mar 14, 2006
hockeyfan228 said:
By whom? I knew GG did transcriptions but this seems kind of odd. It's not like it adds to T&I. And I still don't understand the Gould-T&I connection. I think it would have been stronger, and perhaps clearer for Buttle, if it weren't such a hodgepodge musically. I'd stick to Bach! Plenty to choose from.
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