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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August 24th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
There are many differences between two versions of Gould´s Goldberg variations (the more obvious is the tempo). What do you prefer Jonas? See you in New York with Bjork.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
There are many differences between two versions of Gould´s Goldberg Variations. The most obvious is the tempo and the quality of the record. What do you prefer Jonas? See you with Bjork in New York.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
….Or if they could hear you guys playing they might like us better!
Ahh so it is called audio visual counterpoint….Whenever I would play Satie on the piano one of my friends would say all he could imagine was some girl dying in a ditch at the end of a movie….I always insisted that Gymnopedies and Gynnosiennes sounded like camels wandering around in a hazy desert …..Yea! I think I will get to see another Volta concert in NY! Hope you are enjoying the road again!
August 25th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Have you listened to Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater ? Some are used in the soundtrack of Lars Von Trier’s “Dogville” and “Manderlay”.
I love Vivaldi, it’s the ultimate … The soul of Venezia !
Romain.
August 26th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I love The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal’s soundtracts.
August 28th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
i saw that Barry Adamson is going to be doing a concert of his favorite film music in london…that should be quite a treat!
September 1st, 2007 at 2:09 pm
I prefer the latter version.