Stewart Goodyear
Stewart Goodyear
Sergio A. Mims writes:
Pianist
Stewart Goodyear has just gotten a rave review for his concert last
night at the Thousand Islands Playhouse in Toronto for his A Homage to
Glenn Gould show.
Toronto ON August 14th 2018
Perhaps it was the set on the stage of the Thousand Islands Playhouse that
gave last night’s concert a house-concert feel. The stage was decorated
as a Canadian small-town waterfront resort complete with a moose’s head
adorning a wall with hockey sticks, snow shoes and saws adding to the
rustic effect. Glenn Gould would have felt right at home, as did last
night’s artist Stewart Goodyear.
The concert, the third of four Studio S Concerts and Conversation with Eric Friesen,
was made up of music from Goodyear’s latest recording entitled For
Glenn Gould released in March of this year. The album and the concert
featured selections from Gould’s debut recitals in Montreal in 1952 as
well as New York and Washington in 1955, recitals that set him off on
his journey to stardom.
The program was by any standard measure unusual to be sure. It began with the English tudor composer Orlando Gibbons’ Lord Salisbury’s Pavan and Galliard for Keyboard, M 18/19.
Only Gould would have chosen such a work to open a debut performance.
Nevertheless, it worked for Gould and last night it worked for Goodyear.
The crystal-clear ornamentation, imitation, and rapid-fire scales set
the tone for an evening of both dazzling technique and the delicate
touch of a true artist.
Naturally, there couldn’t be a tribute to Gould without Bach’s music. Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829 had a light buoyant spirit. I was particularly taken with Goodyear’s left hand. There was none of the heaviness that one often hears in contrapuntal passages. He let each phrase sing out with clarity.
Goodyear went in chronological order from Gibbons to Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Berg. However, following Beethoven’s Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, at the very moment when there was to be an intermission, he decided spontaneously to dispense with the washroom break and instead, added Chopin’s Nocturne in D Flat major Op. 27, No.2. It was perhaps the only time anywhere that an encore has been inserted into the middle of a concert program. Who could complain when it is performed with such consummate artistry? Glenn Gould would have had none of it, but the audience loved the addition.
Following the encore, Goodyear got back to the printed program, sort of, playing two Intermezzi by Brahms (Op. 117, No. 3 and Op. 118, No. 2) in the reverse order to what was printed. Nevertheless, they each drew the audience ever closer to him with uplifting musical lines woven into the fabric of the harmonies.
What for me was the main event, Anton Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op. 1 was a stunning performance. The music was as stirring emotionally as it was intellectually stimulating.
Naturally, there couldn’t be a tribute to Gould without Bach’s music. Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829 had a light buoyant spirit. I was particularly taken with Goodyear’s left hand. There was none of the heaviness that one often hears in contrapuntal passages. He let each phrase sing out with clarity.
Goodyear went in chronological order from Gibbons to Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Berg. However, following Beethoven’s Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101, at the very moment when there was to be an intermission, he decided spontaneously to dispense with the washroom break and instead, added Chopin’s Nocturne in D Flat major Op. 27, No.2. It was perhaps the only time anywhere that an encore has been inserted into the middle of a concert program. Who could complain when it is performed with such consummate artistry? Glenn Gould would have had none of it, but the audience loved the addition.
Following the encore, Goodyear got back to the printed program, sort of, playing two Intermezzi by Brahms (Op. 117, No. 3 and Op. 118, No. 2) in the reverse order to what was printed. Nevertheless, they each drew the audience ever closer to him with uplifting musical lines woven into the fabric of the harmonies.
What for me was the main event, Anton Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op. 1 was a stunning performance. The music was as stirring emotionally as it was intellectually stimulating.
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