full transcript

From the Ted Talk by John Q. Walker: Great piano performances, recreated

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I'm going to sartt with Glenn gulod. He died 25 years ago this year, and was born 75 years ago this year. Was a beloved pniaist, maybe the great cult pianist of the twentieth cnertuy. He just got tired of being in front of an audience, and felt like — a performing mknoey was, in fact, his term. So he stepped back, and did nothing but the crafting of his work. And Gould's specialty was playing Bach. His maybe most famous recording was something called "The Goldberg vaoritnais." Bach only wrote themes and variations one time. He wotre some early pieces, but late in his life, in his mature period, he said, "Here's a theme — 30 variations." In fact, the temhe isn't even the melody, it's the bass line. And Gould rercoedd it in two major recordings that you may know about, one in mono, and one in stereo. And the one in mono, by the way, he used the padel, and as he got oedlr, he said, "No, no, wait a minute. I'm going to get very scientific about this, and not use the pedal." What I'd like you to hear live is the 1955 version, and we'll play the first couple pieces of it. glnen Gould, 1955. (Music) How about that? (Applause)

Open Cloze


I'm going to _____ with Glenn _____. He died 25 years ago this year, and was born 75 years ago this year. Was a beloved _______, maybe the great cult pianist of the twentieth _______. He just got tired of being in front of an audience, and felt like — a performing ______ was, in fact, his term. So he stepped back, and did nothing but the crafting of his work. And Gould's specialty was playing Bach. His maybe most famous recording was something called "The Goldberg __________." Bach only wrote themes and variations one time. He _____ some early pieces, but late in his life, in his mature period, he said, "Here's a theme — 30 variations." In fact, the _____ isn't even the melody, it's the bass line. And Gould ________ it in two major recordings that you may know about, one in mono, and one in stereo. And the one in mono, by the way, he used the _____, and as he got _____, he said, "No, no, wait a minute. I'm going to get very scientific about this, and not use the pedal." What I'd like you to hear live is the 1955 version, and we'll play the first couple pieces of it. _____ Gould, 1955. (Music) How about that? (Applause)

Solution


  1. century
  2. pianist
  3. pedal
  4. recorded
  5. theme
  6. variations
  7. glenn
  8. older
  9. monkey
  10. gould
  11. wrote
  12. start

Original Text


I'm going to start with Glenn Gould. He died 25 years ago this year, and was born 75 years ago this year. Was a beloved pianist, maybe the great cult pianist of the twentieth century. He just got tired of being in front of an audience, and felt like — a performing monkey was, in fact, his term. So he stepped back, and did nothing but the crafting of his work. And Gould's specialty was playing Bach. His maybe most famous recording was something called "The Goldberg Variations." Bach only wrote themes and variations one time. He wrote some early pieces, but late in his life, in his mature period, he said, "Here's a theme — 30 variations." In fact, the theme isn't even the melody, it's the bass line. And Gould recorded it in two major recordings that you may know about, one in mono, and one in stereo. And the one in mono, by the way, he used the pedal, and as he got older, he said, "No, no, wait a minute. I'm going to get very scientific about this, and not use the pedal." What I'd like you to hear live is the 1955 version, and we'll play the first couple pieces of it. Glenn Gould, 1955. (Music) How about that? (Applause)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
glenn gould 2
natural behavior 2
dummy head 2
starts playing 2
shrine auditorium 2
sweet spot 2


Important Words


  1. applause
  2. audience
  3. bach
  4. bass
  5. beloved
  6. born
  7. called
  8. century
  9. couple
  10. crafting
  11. cult
  12. died
  13. early
  14. fact
  15. famous
  16. felt
  17. front
  18. glenn
  19. goldberg
  20. gould
  21. great
  22. hear
  23. late
  24. life
  25. line
  26. live
  27. major
  28. mature
  29. melody
  30. minute
  31. monkey
  32. mono
  33. music
  34. older
  35. pedal
  36. performing
  37. period
  38. pianist
  39. pieces
  40. play
  41. playing
  42. recorded
  43. recording
  44. recordings
  45. scientific
  46. specialty
  47. start
  48. stepped
  49. stereo
  50. term
  51. theme
  52. themes
  53. time
  54. tired
  55. twentieth
  56. variations
  57. version
  58. wait
  59. work
  60. wrote
  61. year
  62. years