{"id":59922,"date":"2019-04-08T14:19:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=59922"},"modified":"2019-04-09T13:47:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T17:47:33","slug":"scrutiny-richard-goode-was-good-beethoven-most-of-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/04\/08\/scrutiny-richard-goode-was-good-beethoven-most-of-the-time\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Richard Goode Was Good Beethoven, Most Of The Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Richard
Richard Goode (Photo courtesy of RCM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Richard Goode at Koerner Hall. Saturday, April 7.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The ingredients, Sunday afternoon, were there: Koerner Hall, a big crowd, a program of late Beethoven and an American pianist of high repute, Richard Goode, who had the wherewithal to realize the glories of this special repertory. Most of the time.<\/p>\n

Most of the \u201cmost\u201d was in the second half, which ended with the valedictory Sonata Op. 111. The opening movement expressed a fine frenzy. Semiquavers, rippling rather than thundering, were admirably distinct, a couple of slight smudges notwithstanding. Beethoven channels his abundant energy into quirky counterpoint in the development. Always in control of multiple strands, Goode made the inspirations seem integral.<\/p>\n

Then came the celebrated Arietta at a quick tempo that emphasized the three beats behind the 9\/16 time signature. Surprising at first, Goode\u2019s clear-headed approach had its advantages. If we got less celestial navigation than usual, we heard a masterful set of variations played with balance, probity and a fine ear for the trills, tremolos and other devices by which Beethoven evokes strange beauties at the top and bottom of the keyboard.<\/p>\n

Before this Goode played the mercurial final six of the 11 Bagatelles Op. 119, smartly characterizing each, including the 10th, a syncopated accompaniment in search of a melody that is over in a matter of seconds. Goode added a faint vocalise to the lyrical 11th Bagatelle, though nothing to compare with the obbligatos of Glenn Gould.<\/p>\n

\"Richard
Richard Goode (Photo: Arthur Kaptainis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pleasure was less consistent in three sonatas heard before intermission. The call-and-response opening of Op. 90 was nicely judged, both with dynamic nuance and rubato. The second of two movements raced by quickly despite Beethoven\u2019s \u201cnicht zu geschwind\u201d command.<\/p>\n

Op. 81a (\u201cLes Adieux\u201d) seemed prosaic throughout. There was more to admire in Op. 101, particularly the martial second movement, crisply articulated and supported by bell-like sonorities in the left hand. Goode\u2019s aptitude for counterpoint was especially apparent in the finale. About the first and third movements, there was little to say.<\/p>\n

In sum, this Royal Conservatory presentation was satisfactory but not quite satisfying. These sonatas are among the greatest ever written. Some in the crowd (attentive if including a few coughers) might have been surprised by Goode\u2019s use of the score and a page-turner, who was required to do some quick flipping when an exposition repeat complicated her assignment. Judging by YouTube clips, the pianist uses sheet music consistently. Not just for Beethoven!<\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/span>,<\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ingredients, Sunday afternoon, were there: Koerner Hall, a big crowd, a program of late Beethoven and an American pianist of high repute, Richard Goode, who had the wherewithal to realize the glories of this special repertory. Most of the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":59924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25164,76,19,52,63],"tags":[2832],"yst_prominent_words":[12458,28350,23462,10548,28348,28353,28349,10549,7670,6606,7682,10582,9344,8757,8649,16909,18771,28351,28352,10395],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/Richard-Goode-toronto.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-fAu","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59922"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59943,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59922\/revisions\/59943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59922"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=59922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}