Re[2]: GG: The Firebird that is creativity...

["James Strzelec" <james.strzelec@autodesk.com>]

     Interesting thread re. Gould's compositional confliction. I've 
     pondered the idea after seeing _32 Short Films..._, and reading much 
     of his writings. It seems to me that the film was suggesting that 
     Gould experienced a profound frustration stemming from the fact that 
     he was only(!!) a great interpreter of piano works that had already 
     been written (which brings up a tangential thread of the unique 
     position of music performance as being one mainly of *restorative* 
     art, or at the least *interpretational* art...). Gould appears, in the 
     characterization of the film, to be grasping for something else he can 
     be great at, something else people can attach the label of 'genius' 
     to. But it doesn't come. In my opion, I think this interpretation is 
     borne out in Gould's writings, but I'd be interested to hear others' 
     comments on this.
     
     Another question: what do subscribers of this list go to when they're 
     done (temporarily, of course) tapping Gould's mine? What music follows 
     easily after Gould, if you know what I mean? Or, put another way, 
     Gramophone magazine has a feature called What's Next?, taking a 
     well-known piece of music and suggesting other pieces that are related 
     by mood, structure, influence. What' Next after Gould? My answer to 
     such a question is more Gould, specifically his handful of some of the 
     fugues from the Art of Fugue. I'm trying to get a copy of this, as 
     I've heard only the best things about his clarity and communication 
     through them. I currently have Zoltan K. doing the Art of Fugue. 
     Tasty.
     
     Finally, has anyone heard Angela Hewitt, who records on Hyperion? 
     She's a new Canadian pianist on the scene, possibly the spiritual 
     successor to Gould. I've heard her Inventions and Symphonia, and I've 
     been quite impressed. I'd sure like to hear her rumble through the Art 
     of the Fugue, or the WTK.


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: GG: The Firebird that is creativity...
Author:  David Daniel <DanielFamily@worldnet.att.net> at SMTPCC3
Date:    1/23/97 5:06 PM


At 07:57 AM 1/23/97 +0000, you wrote:
     
>He said, 'It's either Schoenberg or Brahms, what I write.' He showed me 
>some sketch of something he had worked on, as if to prove how bad he was as 
>a composer. He said, 'Look at this -- '
     
As an (extremely) amateur composer, I am constantly aware of this feeling. 
When I was about twelve I gave some short piano compositions I had written
to a local conductor, apologizing that they sounded like other people's works. 
The conductor said back that I should never apologize for that and that every 
composer starts somewhere before he finds his own voice.  
     
It's very true.  I guess GG never was able to find his own voice (except in 
the Solitude Trilogy which is uniquely _his_).  Look at Schubert.  He wrote
more than 900 cataloged compositions (probably more are somewhere undiscovered) 
and it's only in the last 200 or so that he developed the richly harmonized
and well developed style that make him a great composer.  The same is true 
with Mozart.  (Maybe Schubert and Mozart are bad examples considering they 
weren't
two of GG's favorite composers. :)
     
     
If Gould had only had more time for composition, he might have ended up as 
one of the great composers.  On the other hand, he was discouraged when he 
discovered he couldn't write another Grosse Fuge like Beethoven.
     
I hope I'm not putting words into Gould's mouth that aren't really there.
     
Regards,
David