Twenty years ago a pianist friend of mine introduced me to Glenn Gould. We studied Ancient Greek together. I mean, me and my friend, not me and Glenn Gould. He used to say he had visited Russia, where people sold piano scores right on the streets. He used to say he had watched Amadeus more than 200 times.
My friend also used to say that Glenn Gould's interpretation of the Goldberg Variations was definitive. I was offended by his saying that. At the time, I felt that no one could produce a definitive interpretation of the Goldberg Variations on a piano; it had to be on a harpsichord. Also, who was he to talk to me about definitive interpretations? After all, I had listened to more than a few hours of classical music by that point!
Now, of course, my opinions have changed. I still don't think Gould's interpretation is definitive. I still think it sounds better on a harpsichord. I just don't think talking about an interpretation being definitive is very useful. Back then, of course, my friend's opinion on the matter was indeed more reliable than mine. But the whole thing is mostly irrelevant.
Now. If I had to choose any interpretation of any piece of music as definitive... that would be Stravinsky's Les Noces as interpreted by the Pokrovsky Ensemble.
The first time I listened to it, I couldn't believe it. It hurt my ears. It made me feel uneasy. There was something so obviously wrong with it. You see, the Pokrovsky Ensemble, as far as I understand, uses folk singing, not classical singing. It's completely different. I wasn't ready for it.
Then over the years Russian folk singing kind of grew on me, to the point where their singing (especially the female voices) began to sound rather magical. It's like a completely different kind of voice—at least to untrained ears like mine. So when I revisited the Pokrovsky Ensemble interpretation, it sounded perfect. That's it! This is how it's supposed to sound! When you learn that the text was taken from actual folk songs, it makes sense in other ways, too.
I find it difficult to listen to other interpretations now. It doesn't help, it really doesn't, that many classical singers clearly have no idea how they're supposed to pronounce the Russian words—and the Pokrovsky singers get it perfect, at least as far as my knowledge of Russian goes. But the problem they all face, regardless of the accent, is a bigger one: it's not Pokrovsky. The voices aren't magical. They are not alive. It's just someone pretending to sing.
Why anyone would bother to produce yet another performance of Les Noces after Pokrovsky is beyond me.
2025-06-07