Gould-Beethoven Concerto No3, (1955)

Gould’s first recording of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor took place in Toronto on February 21/1955 with Heinz Unger conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra. Gould played this concerto 18 times during his public career with some of the most famous conductors (Karajan/Berlin, Bernstein/New York, Krips/Buffalo & London, Paray/Detroit) This performance finds a young Glenn Gould in exhuberant form. The overall execution is flawless and even without the benefit of advanced technology the sound is above average. Of Beethoven’s five piano concertos we have a few different interpretations by Gould on record. Only the fourth -his favourite and first one he ever played- has no public performance available either on tape or disc (There is a radio broadcast from Vancouver in 1951 but it has technical failures). Luckily, there are a few recordings of the third one in C minor on tape. The studio one with Bernstein remains the best of the lot as far as Gould’s approval is concerned. Th