Glenn Gould - The Alchemist
by Bruno Monsaingeon

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DVD Reviews of Glenn Gould - The Alchemist

DVD Review: Good Stuff for Gould's Fans
Summary: 3 Stars

In this DVD, we also have a director. So the photography is not as dull as Goldberg and to a certain extent quite artistic, especially when he is on the piano. One of the most appealing sights of this DVD would be his fingerworks as filmed right above his hands: it looks as though the ten fingers were ten little dancers (with Horowitz, we have ten horses racing together).

Gould had a way of making the piano sounds more like harpsichord than a modern piano, and that supposedly had something to do with the position he sat himself before the piano making his arms so low. The recording session of the English Suite, other than Gibbons, is one of the best that this DVD has to offer, but that is only an excerpt showing instead what he was seeking in his recording. Fortunately, we have a whole piece of Partita #6, a piece that some would regard as less appealing than his English Suite.

As to his chats, for those other than Gould's fans, they would rather the director/producer edite it or trim it making it more compact. But for Gould fans, they sure would long for more whatever they may be. Fortunately, we have a choice: we can select the music programme instead of having to undergo all the chats everytime before we have the music.

The "bonus" hasn't any substance at all. Such kind of trial started in the 1930s when a piano teacher tried to film famous pianists' hands to be replayed in normal and slow actions to unveil the "secret" of piano playing in order "to save years of hard practice": a most futile attempt.

Description of Glenn Gould - The Alchemist

Classical Music CDs

• Music > Styles