Pianistic Installation: Glenn Gould's creative process for television in the program" The Age of Ecstasy: 1900-1910 ".

• Grant number: 19/03324-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: July 22, 2019
• End date: December 21, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Music
• Principal Investigator: Anna Claudia Agazzi
• Grantee: Anna Claudia Agazzi
• Host Investigator: Midori Koga
• Host Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Toronto (U of T), Canada

Abstract

The research will investigate the role of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932-1982) and his creative process in designing the television series "Musicamara: Music in Our Time" produced for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and presented by the pianist. The research will pay special attention to the first program of the series: "The Age Of Ecstasy: 1900-1910" (1974).Glenn Gould is an important reference in the area of performance practices, as well as for the area of aesthetics and philosophy of music. He is recognized as one of the great Canadian thinkers of the second half of the twentieth century. Some of his piano recordings are fundamental in the study of the piano performance of works by J.S. Bach and also important references for compositions of the first half of the twentieth century. Gould contributed by publishing his thoughts in several articles that discuss the performer's role: freedom of interpretation, the relevance of live musical performances, and in particular the use of technological resources for piano interpretation. Gould made extensive use of recording techniques and resources to manipulate his musical performances and suggested a new term for his acting as a pianist: "recording artist", which referred to the performer of the recording. Beginning in 1964, Gould left the stage to focus almost exclusively on pianistic performance for audio recordings and then created experimental works for radio and television series.The present research will investigate the extent of Gould's involvement in the creative process of The Age of Ecstasy: 1900-1910, which features works by Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) and Alban Berg (1883-1935). Had Gould exceeded his primary role as pianist-interpreter and recording artist, manipulating the other elements of the television program? And, if this is in fact this case, how do these decisions relate to the interpretation of the performed piano works?The research will be conducted by Professor Anna Claudia Agazzi, for the Music Department of the Arts Institute at Unesp as part of her Triennial Project entitled: "The Visual Arts Interface and Piano Performance as a medium for communicating Classical Musical Content for Contemporary Audiences1". It will result in a written article and Pianistic Installation to be completed in Brazil.