Tricky Fingers

How is one supposed to play this exactly?

Contrapuctus XIII

One can neither can play a 14th in the right hand (my hands are not that big) nor play legato parallel 10ths in the left; hence some sort of arpeggiation is required. But I can’t quite seem to reproduce how Glenn Gould plays this measure. Then again, that phenomenon is not unique to this passage.

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0 Responses to Tricky Fingers

  1. Steven says:

    Play the notes between the hands as they are in the staves, except play the F at the beginning of the second measure with the left hand.

  2. WhoIsCounting? says:

    Surely F4 to D6 is a 13th (XIII)?

    • By Golly, you’re right. I’m going to have to use that example next time I teach algebra, namely, that the group law of intervals is isomorphic to $latex \mathbf{Z}$ but the group law is given by

      $latex (x \star y) = x + y – 1.$

      (I guess it’s even worse than this, because three thirds is not and eighth…)

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