Glenn Gould as interpreter of Fifth Symphony of Beethoven

In the article, the role of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932-1982) in modern musical culture is interpreted. It is shown that he has implemented a new approach to performing art. The basic principle of his art is that the performer must create a new interpretation. For the sake of its realization, he left the concert hall at the peak of his artistic glory in the recording studio, where, as he believed, the ideal conditions for a new reading of the musical classics were created. Prior to Gould, sound recording was thought of as a means of preserving the creative achievements of performing musicians. Thanks to Gould, sound recording has become a relatively independent type of performing art. He abandoned the existing tradition of creativity "in front of the public and with it", opened the inspiring possibilities of the studio and microphone. The most clearly new style of performance created by Gould was manifested in his interpretation of the transcription of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Specific properties of Liszt's piano transcriptions and the formed tradition of their performance are analyzed. It is shown that Gould refuses from the orchestral, multicolored interpretation of the piano. He plays emphatically precisely - like Beethoven. The text treats objectively. A comparative analysis of interpretations has shown that he has the most objective of all the readings of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, sparingly painted, graphically strict, like the outline of a Christian cathedral. At the end of the article socio-cultural reasons were analyzed, as a result of which such original reading of the symphony appeared. Gould is a Canadian. Judging by his articles, he was not a deeply religious person, but he was raised in a Protestant school, he spoke of himself - "my Protestant soul" -he possessed a Protestant worldview. The Protestant worldview is quite definitely manifested in the culture of Canada. The orderliness, thoughtfulness of life and everyday life and at the same time modesty - there is no wealth that screams about itself. Protestant churches - service, decoration and appearance - are significantly different from Orthodox and Catholic churches. Orthodox and Catholic in the church service and decoration is present not only a mystical, but also an aesthetic element: the mystical grows into an aesthetic and vice versa. In Protestants, the aesthetic element goes to the background - faith, prayer appear in an almost purified form. In the Catholic church, the beauty is baroque, luxurious. In Protestant - modest. Aesthetics here Pythagorean, mathematical, rational - aesthetics of the right proportions. Pythagorean beauty is present in Catholic and Orthodox churches, but it "hides" behind the beauty and expressiveness of the picturesque, sculptural (the Catholics) decoration. Symphonies of Beethoven can be likened to a Cathedral in the sounds. Gould discovered Protestant beauty of the symphony-cathedral.

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