Glenn Gould and the Canadian Composer
[...]
Morawetz tells an interesting story about the occasion of the first recording: 'Glenn Gould told me that he was going to record my Fantasy in D minor for the International Service. I was very happy, but I asked him if he could play it for me before recording it. At first he said "Absolutely not!" but I pleaded with him and finally he said
"Okay, I'll come to you the day before the recording, but I'll tell you right now that I won't change anything." And so he came.
He played the accompaniment so loud in places that the melody disappeared. At one spot I asked him to bring out the melody
line instead of the accompaniment. He looked at me and said "All the voices are equally important - there are no main voices." But I insisted that I wanted the melody brought out. Finally he looked at me
and he said "Look, Oskar, I like this work very much and that is why I want to play it and record it, but when you start to tell me which voice is important and which voice
isn't, I have the feeling that you don't understand your own music." Morawetz tells the story with a laugh now, but it is ironic that
the liner notes for the RCI recording state 'In this rendition, Glenn Gould carries out all
the wishes of the composer.'
Morawetz notes that Gould's ideas about the work changed by the time of the
Columbia recording,
which is much different from the earlier one:
it is over two minutes longer for one thing, a significant variation in light of the fact that
the work is only 15 minutes long.
[...]
