On Bob Dylan and Glenn Gould
Cooper introduced me to Bob Dylan, lending me his copy of his Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits CD. At the time I didn't know who Bob Dylan was other than that he was a folk singer back in my parent's time. But then when I put in the CD I heard songs and lyrics I had heard time and time again, sung by different groups in different genres and in different generations. A few seconds after every song started I'd have that flicker of recognition and would turn to Cooper in disbelief. "Bob Dylan wrote this song, too?" It was amazing to learn that all these different songs performed by a variety of groups had all been written by a single, nasally-sounding folk singer who hailed from a small town in Minnesota. By the end of the semester I had borrowed all of Cooper's Bob Dylan CDs. He said he was going to introduce me to Miles Davis after Winter Break, but sadly that never happened - Cooper's grades that first semester at school were pretty anemic and I think he knew that he wasn't meant to be an engineer. The last time I saw him was a few days before leaving for Winter Break, and I only heard of his decision to drop out from another floormate in my dormatory.
Bob Dylan remains one of my favorite modern musicians and, despite his less than stellar singing voice, I prefer to hear him sing his own songs. Yes, Jimi did a more powerful All Along the Watchtower, Peter, Paul, and Mary did the quintessential rendition of Blowin' in the Wind, and I was partial to Guns 'n' Roses version of Knocking on Heaven's Door, but if I could only listen to one version of any of Bob's songs I'd like to hear him sing it. My favorite Bob Dylan song is Don't Think Twice, It's All Right.
I had another musical "discovery" about a year ago, this time thanks to the Internet. I've long enjoyed classical music, especially classical piano, but had always focused more on the composers rather than the performers. After all, I reasoned, it was Mozart or Beethoven or Rachmaninoff who wrote the music, and while a performer could add his or her own personal touch, a piece of music would similar regardless of who played it (assuming capable skill level among the performers). But then I found a link on Digg.com, if I'm remembering correctly, to this short video of pianist Glenn Gould playing a Bach Partita. This clip is from the documentary The Art of Piano.
His style of play intrigued me. He was obviously very skilled and clearly very eccentric, from the poor posture at the piano to humming along as he played to getting up, looking out the window, and singing the music aloud, as if his brain had worked too fast and he lost track of what to play and had to "catch back up" by rehashing the notes to himself. I especially liked that he was so enthused at performing that he would "sing along" with the notes, something I find myself doing when listening to particularly enjoyable classical pieces. Moreover, most pianists play a piece the "way it was intended" by the
composer, adding their own style and touches here and there, but
remaining true to the instructions and markings made by the composer.
Gould, however, was not afraid to play a piece the way he saw fit. Through Gould I learned that the performer can have a great impact on the way a particular piece is heard.
Take Mozart's Piano Sonata in A Major, K 333, for example. Here is Gould himself explaining his interpretation of the piece:
And here is Gould's interpretation followed by the "standard" way of playing this piece. See what version you prefer.