GG, $ony, law, justice, art, competitions

[Ron Davis <rdavis@chass.utoronto.ca>]

A response to the messages from Penelope Peters, Jeremy Clayton Smith, and
Mary Jo Watts:

To Penelope Peters:

>Excuse my naivite, but what is your objection to a GG piano competition?
><(good
>grief! a GG piano competition- I still haven't recovered from that one), >
>If my memory serves, GG took part in at least a couple of Bach competitions, as
>a teenager.  Is not the idea of a GG competition merely a vehicle to keep alive
>Gould's name and ideals?

My objection was to a piano competition in the name of GG, not to
competitions simpliciter. Here was a man favourable to the extinction of the
concert hall, and against the sports-in-music-ness of concertization. He may
have competed as a youth, but he certainly had nothing to do with any
competition in his adult life. So much about GG and his art embodied ideals
and principles inimical to competitions. Let there be competitions (the
debate about whose merits belong on another list) by all means. There are so
many already; did the world really need another one?

If one wants to keep alive GG's name and ideals, how about something
innovative: a recording competition? a radio documentary competition? a
competition for the best music performance tv hour? This would be in keeping
with his unique genius, and promote artists less likely to get help than
those on the crowded competition circuit. 

Goodness knows, the winner, Angela Hewitt (sp?) is a superb and deserving
musician. But a GG Piano Competition? Might as well have a Glenn Gould Big
Band Jazz Competition, or a Glenn Gould Chopin Etudes Competition?

************************

To Jeremy Clayton Smith:

Thank you for expressing your agreement publicly on this list. Open and
public discussion about Sony's (how tempting it is to write $ony's...)
cash-is-all-that-counts administration of the GG legacy may contribute to
the change in Sony's ways, about whose advent you are not optimistic.

And I wholly agree, that of the many abominations on the video series, it is
the vivisection (videosection?) of the Humphrey Burton interviews that most
hurts.

************************
To Mary Jo Watts:

What most stands out in my eyes in both your response to me, and your
message about the Brahms, is the legal solidity of Sony's position.

No doubt. As a lawyer myself since 1984 (mostly part time for the past 10
years, while I detoured into academia, whence I shall exit in 1998), I
understand this perspective well. But remember, law is at once the refuge of
the persecuted, and the lair of the venal and vile. 

By insisting on its strict legal rights, Sony is denying the public access
to performances by GG. But for Music and Arts, I question whether we would
have ever had the Hammerklavier, the Chopin #3. And as your message makes
clear, but for Melodram, we never would have heard the Brahms. 

Yes, copyright must be respected. But imagine the Haydn, Handel, and others
that would have been forever lost if strict legal rights were allowed to govern.

If there were some artistic end to Sony insisting on its rights, if Sony
showed the slightest interest in preserving and presenting  GG's legacy for
other than commercial ends, I would find it easy to support their agressive
stance. But I suspect, strongly, that  the only motive behind Sony's moves
is money. Were there no profit in GG for them, they would be happy to let
the public languish without ever hearing GG's performances. GG is a product
that moves many units. Period. 

I cannot agree with the reasoning that sound/ photo quality or GG's
abjuration of concerts justifies the denial of his work to the world.
Neither is a sufficient ground, given the stature and importance of GG's
work. One may as well argue text quality for withholding Shakespeare, or
Tolstoy's renunciation of novel-writing to banish Anna Karenina.

Sony has consolidated its monopoly on GG's works. Those who might otherwise
search out and present works of GG to the world have been duly cowed, and
will no doubt stay away. And we are the poorer for it. That is the law. I
respect it, I obey it. But damn Sony (and Stephen Posen for that matter) for
following the law of GG, instead of the spirit. 

************************
How fortunate are we, the happy many interested in GG, to have this list. We
owe a debt of gratitude to Mary Jo Watts. Thank you Mary Jo.

Ron

Ron Davis  / Assistant Professor 
Department of French  / University of Toronto
Vox: (416) 929-2324 / Fax: (416) 929-1087
e-mail: rdavis@chass.utoronto.ca