The Canadian South paw vs. the Austrian Primster

In the early 1970's Canadian pianist Glenn Gould upset the apple-cart with his recordings of Mozart's Piano Sonatas. Quick tempos and detached notes had critics and listeners alike crying foul, "this is not Mozart!" Gould ignored their abuse saying that he only liked Mozart's early sonatas where he was influenced by C.P.E. Bach. He topped this off by say the problem with Mozart is that he lived too long, simplified his composing style and did not fulfill his contrapuntal potential.

Thirty years later with the early instrument boom and bust, listeners are used to what Gould did so long ago. It turns out that the creamy-legato that we were used to in old performances/ recordings was wrong. Mozart didn't play that way and ironically, according to Beethoven, his playing was very much like Gould's, with clipped notes and fast tempos.

Not quite sure? Listen to the Piano this Sunday afternoon at 5 and hear for yourself.

host Randy Anderson