The Most Controversial Speech in Classical Music

I first grew aware of Glenn Gould’s controversial performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with Leonard Bernstein from Haruki Murakami’s Absolutely on Music. There, Murakami recounts his conversations with the late Seiji Ozawa, who at the time was Lenny’s (Ozawa’s nickname for Bernstein) assistant conductor. Reading it again now, it’s interesting seeing how the “incident” played out through the eyes of the Japanese Conductor. 

Those of you familiar with the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould are probably aware of his eccentricities as a pianist: his shrimp posture, his iconic chair, and most of all his interpretive choices. It was the latter that led Bernstein to give a short speech before the performance.

“Don't be frightened. Mr. Gould is here.” He began before warning the audience of the unorthodox interpretation Gould would be taking, further stating:

“I cannot say I am in total agreement with Mr. Gould's conception.” 

Although Bernstein assured the audience that he deeply admired and respected Gould and that he approached their musical discrepancy with a spirit of sportsmanship, many viewed the conductor’s speech as a disclaimer meant to demean Gould’s performance. 

Indeed, recounting the memory, Ozawa said: 

“But you know, at the time I felt that saying something like this before a performance was not the right thing to do. I still feel that way.”

But in Bernstein’s own writing, he offers a behind the scenes of the events leading up to the Carnegie Hall concert. A week before he was to go to New York, Gould called Bernstein from Toronto to speak to him about the Brahms work:

“Oh boy, have I got some surprises for you; I have made such discoveries about this piece.”

Gould’s most notable change was adopting a drastically slower tempo that would’ve entailed Bernstein also change his manner of conducting. Nonetheless, the conductor entertained Gould’s suggestions, writing that:

“Any discovery of Glenn’s was welcomed by me because I worshipped the way he played: I admired his intellectual approach, his "guts" approach, his complete dedication to whatever he was doing, his constant inquiry into a new angle or a new possibility of the truth of a score.”

However, Bernstein was also fearful that the slower tempo would bog down audiences, so he came up with the idea of giving a speech before the performance, warming them up for what was to come. 

Bernstein actually ran this by with Gould prior to coming up on stage, to which Gould replied:

“Oh, it's wonderful, what a great idea.”

Despite this though, Bernstein’s speech still seems to be interpreted here and there as him throwing Gould under the bus. He writes:

“It's rather like the Radical Chic Black Panther legend, which I can never seem to set straight. I have the feeling, even now, that trying to make this story about Glenn clear by telling the truth can't really erase the now legendary, but false, version.”