Glenn Gould - Haydn: The Last Piano Sonatas (2002)

This disc is likely to have a specialised appeal -- it is not just Gould but Gould on unfamiliar territory. The disc contains Haydn's last 5 sonatas, extracted on to 1 CD from a set that has only 1 more piece in an expensive 2-disc format. If you know Gould's work you will not be surprised by anything here. He was the least 'romantic' in style of all the great virtuosi, his evenness of touch was legendary and he provides a certain amount of vocal obbligato (not something that bothers me). He uses a piano you could play Rachmaninov on and that does not bother me either -- Richter, Serkin and Horowitz used similar. His approach shows at its best in the first sonata here, in D with a very long first movement, and he captures Haydn's typical unpredictability in this movement outstandingly well and gives a superb performance of the finale with marvellous pearly fingerwork. In the C major (#50) he takes the usual fast tempo in the first movement, not the slowish one taken by Serkin, and I expect that this is likely to have more general appeal, but I could never be without the wonderful imaginative touch that Serkin applies to the second theme in the first movement recapitulation, a celestial musical-box effect. In #52 in E flat the only other performance I own is an early Horowitz effort, marvellously played but too badly recorded to be recommendable. This piece again suits Gould, especially in the fast and vigorous outer movements. I would say he captures Haydn's quirkiness brilliantly, but not his humour. Humour and Gould don't seem to go together somehow. I should also say I have never heard Richter's performance of this sonata all the way through, but I have heard enough of it to think that anyone looking for an outstanding account should do just that, as I plan to do myself.
There are other and deeper sides to Haydn, and the E flat sonata #49 seems to me one of his very greatest compositions. Here I am used to Serkin at his 75th birthday concert, and that performance has for me a revelatory quality that Gould does not approach. Serkin's handling of the first-movement theme with the upward right-hand runs is a miracle of rhythmic finesse and suppleness, there is a wintry quality to the strong minor-key colouring in the minuet-finale that Serkin brings out memorably, and by comparison Gould's brisk no-nonsense approach seems to me not to rise to the stature of the work.
The last 6 sonatas were all of a projected complete set that Gould lived to do. Music-lovers unfamiliar with Gould's work would be well advised to hear the disc before committing themselves, as it is likely to divide opinion sharply. For my part, I miss him.