I went to FNAC yesterday, where I bought a set of twelve CDs with Canadian pianist Glenn Gould playing Bach. Among them are both recordings Gould made of the Goldberg Variations, i.e. in 1955 and 1981.
Lalo Schifrin, the film composer principally known for composing the “burning fuse” theme of Mission Impossible, once came to Iceland and conducted the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra. On the programme was only film music and Schifrin introduced each peace. He was most entertaining and told the audience plenty of things I didn’t know or, at least, hadn’t thought about.
For instance, he mentioned “audio/visual counterpoint”. That’s when the music in the film is in direct contrast to what you see. You may be watching something innocent enough, but the music is very menacing - or vice versa. Schifrin then conducted a piece of music which resembled a nursery rhyme, originally played during a scene when terrorists were planning to bomb a children’s playground.
I was reminded of such stark contrasts while I was listening to the Goldberg variations last night. That’s the music you hear when Hannibal Lecter has slaughtered a couple of policemen in his cage in Silence of the Lambs. Bach’s heavenly music makes the murders seem even more gruesome.
Gould was a genius. If you haven’t seen Bruno Montsaingeon’s film Glenn Gould Hereafter, do so. I highly recommend it.
Björk once gave me Bruno Montsaingeon’s film about the Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter. That’s an amazing documentary which I have watched many times.
Incidentally, Gould’s interpretation of the Prelude and Fugue in C Major from Book Two of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier is in the spacecraft Voyager 1, which is “approaching interstellar space and is the most distant human-made object from Earth”, to quote the Wikipedia. I believe the idea is that if aliens come across the spacecraft and open it, they can hear Gould play Bach and so have a better understanding of what we humans are about.
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