Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. 1. Mäßige quarter note
2. 2. Mäßige eighth note
3. 3. Bewegte eighth note
4. 1. Sehr langsam (eighth note = 108)
5. 2. Sehr rasch (eighth note)
6. 3. Langsam (quarter note = ca. 54)
7. 4. Schwungvoll. Mäßige quarter note (ca. 76)
8. 5. Walzer (dotted quarter note = 72)
9. 1. Leicht, zart (eighth note)
10. 2. Langsam (quarter note)
11. 3. Sehr langsame quarter note
12. 4. Rasch, aber leicht (quarter note)
13. 5. Etwas rasch (eighth note)
14. 6. Sehr langsam (quarter note)
15. Präludium. Rasch (dotted quarter note = 80)
16. Gavotte. Etwas langsam (half note = ca. 72) nicht hastig - Musette. Rascher (half note = 88) - Gavo
17. Intermezzo (quarter note = 40)
18. Menuett. Moderato (quarter note = ca. 88) - Trio - Menuett da capo
19. Gigue. Rasch (quarter note = ca. 192)
20. a) Mäßige quarter note = 120
21. b) Mäßig langsam (quarter note = 64)

Disc 2:

1. Andante
2. Molto allegro (Bar/Takt/mesure/misura 176)
3. Adagio (Bar 264)
4. Giocoso (Moderato)(Bar 329)
5. Grave - Più mosso - Meno mosso - Lento - Grazioso - Tempo 1 - Più mosso -
6. Scherzando - Poco tranquillo - Scherzando - Meno mosso - Tempo 1
7. 1. Mondestrucken
8. 2. Colombine
9. 3. Der Dandy
10. 4. Eine blasse Wäscherin
11. 5. Valse de Chopin
12. 6. Madonna
13. 7. Der kranke Mond

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81120 in Music
• Released on: 1995-02-07
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

The "least dry" Schoenberg ever
I believe wholeheartedly that, for the uninitiated, this disc is difficult to truly appreciate without having heard other pianists attempt these pieces (e.g., Pollini). To enjoy listening to Schoenberg necessitates a certain familiarity with prolonged "dissonance", just like strong coffee or unfiltered beer--it takes some getting used to. If you're already there, it's not "dissonant", it's "music" (just like other alternate melodic conceptions-raga, gamelan, mbira, partch, etc.), and Gould's passionate readings here display his love for and understanding of the music's heart. Go Glenn.

Mr. Gould: the Genius of Recorded Music!

Gould was playing Schoenberg in the 1950s--just shortly after the composer's death. He realizes the Op. 11 pieces in a very late-Brahmsian manner, in keeping with his gestalt of turn-of-the-century Modern music, viz., Brahms, Strauss, Scriabin, Schoenberg, Hindemith, et al.

The Op. 25 Suite is an exquisite refraction of a Bach French Suite--but done in Schoenberg's 12-tone form. Here Gould plays Schoenberg as he does Bach!

Gould's realization of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto is very secco (dry), and intentionally miked very closely: i.e., the recording was made with microphones placed close to the performers, rather than way back out in the audience area of a hall. This was Gould's idea, and the results are outstanding: the best Schoenberg Piano Concerto available--pace, Uchida and Brendel, et al.

Gould's Pierrot is his first attempt at conducting, and one wishes he had completed it and done more. In the end, Gould conducted Wagner's Siegfried Idyll with outstanding results.

This is a great set.

A Master Pianist Plays His Favorites
Schoenberg's rigid mathematics, his triads, his serialism, his tonal abilities, when demonstated through his piano pieces (especially through these piano pieces) allow a pianist with the mechanical ability and inspired play of Glenn Gould the chance to demonstrate how to hear, feel and convey a music that, to many listeners, often reflects, upon fist listen, chaos. But the music on this 2 CD set is not to be listened to merely once. Glenn Gould, master pianist, is playing his favorite works by one of his favorite composers. The Schoenberg basher will hear more chaos than in other recordings of these piano pieces, merely because Gould's sure fingers, his hands, are as revolutionary as the music he is playing.