Glenn Gould - Beethoven, 15 Variations And Fugue (E-flat maj): Var. I-XV (OFFICIAL)

Festival 61: A performance taken from the CBC show, ""The Subject Is Beethoven"" (06.02.1961).
The first thematic special for television in which Gould appears as both performer and commentator.

[r.i.p.volodya]

Amongst G.G.'s amazing skills is his unique ability to maintain the tension/intensity even in the slowest of tempi. If anyone else were to try that we'd be bored to death!

[maxineparker]

I’ve never seen a resting place for music on the top of any piano he plays. He must memorize his music the first time he plays it. His brain must be full of a ton of piano music. It blows my mind, his talent.🥰

[hannaxin]

forever Glenn Gould, love his music all the

[chriscarson]

This is some of the most amazing pianism you'll ever see. Blown away!

[azrielcabrini]

Gould = Best Beethoven and Bach interpretations ever!!

[mk]

....it doesn’t change a thing, no matter how often I listen to GG and how eloquently he himself describes what he was doing, GG and his world of music remains a miracle.

Mi piace moltissimo

[srothbardt]

We can see why Beethoven was considered such a great pianist from this

[Opoczynski]

No other pianist, to my knowledge, has such vast knowledge of music of every genre as Glenn Gould. And every composition he discusses he can play (and sometimes sing) instantly and perfectly without the printed music.

[fredericchopin]

I love Glenn's hair flips. He looks so cool.

[francescomini]

From 0.44 to 1.10 the technique is unbelievable: hands desappear and reappear while crossing over the keyboard, creating a dance visual effect. In the following variation (1.11) as Piero Rattalino said, Gould becomes illusionist, playing the left hand in the air, over a virtual keyboard. Something related to jazz. No other interpretation reachs such effect (you can see here Richter, Kissin, etc), appreciated could be or not.

[mireneguidazubollegui]

Sublime! Bellísimo! Gloria Eterna a Beethoven y Glenn Gould.

[michelacampo]

Finalmente Beethoven suonato come si deve non soffro più mi viene il cuore

[remsan]

That theme is an earworm and it's played magnificently.

[franciscomauricio]

Fantástico
Como se pode ser tão virtuoso!
E depois a característica especial de tocar com a cadeira mais baixa.
Outra característica, toca sempre sem pauta!

[Leibo]

i am speechless - which I'm not very often.

[blackcoffee]

People don't play piano like this anymore. Back in the day, musicians had limited access to recordings, and so a lot of the time you learned a piece entirely from the page and not by "copy and pasting" what you hear another musician do in a recording. The connection to the composer is quite intimate through the page. And so there weren't as many diluted "hand-me-downs" of interpretation. This video is an excellent example of that...

[leylamariabarquerobendana]

Que puedo hacer? A mi edad totalmente enamorada de Gould-Beethoven, imposible no caer en extasis, únicos .... únicos ... rayos de luz, en las sombras de esta oscura vida

[JohnBoyDeere]

Even when the song is over Glen keeps going!

[sandplus]

It is interesting that I hear a lot of Beethoven’s piano concerto and sonatas as well as his symphonies in this variation.

[galinaprozorova]

Браво Глен, как жаль что ты так рано ушёл от нас.