Dutton's Helfgott/GG article

[kimmoor@mindspring.com (Kristen Immoor)]

Here is my take on the Helfgott craze, with parallels made and denied to GG
where necessary.

        Dutton asks how it is that Helfgott manages to play consistently
sold-out shows to countless standing ovations despite his musical
incompetence, mental disability, and torrential bad reviews from critics.
The answer, very simply, lies within the question. Helfgott does not make
music for critics, he makes music for a crowd that has already decided it
loves him.
        There can be no doubt that the audiences on David Helfgott's Shine
tour are not the average classical audiences. The odds are more than good
that, as speculated already in this thread, 80% or better of the attendees
are film fans first and music fans second. Though the fluffy "triumph of
the human spirit meets wacky creative genius" genre may not be your cup of
tea, the numbers prove that Shine was a powerful movie. It portrayed,
accurately or otherwise, a downtrodden and utterly loveable child (later a
downtrodden and loveable manchild,) who makes good on his dreams after a
lifetime of hurt. Shine speaks to the thousands of people in the world who
feel that they too are untapped geniuses who have never been encouraged to
shine. David Helfgott is a survivor role model in an age of victims, and
the music is a bonus. To an audience that may not necessarily have a
background in classical music, what David plays is free of the tradition
and history to which it has been subject for so long. It becomes language,
richly textured with only the history that Helfgott brings to it, the story
of his own life, the story the audience wants to hear. Even without the
music, David's audience wants to see him. They want to hear him, hug him,
share their own little miseries and triumphs, shake hands with the movie
star - the funny man at the piano (who can't really play that well but
dammit he's up there anyway,) singing and telling jokes and demonstrating
that it's okay to be a weirdo, that sometimes the weirdos win. To quote a
line from Dutton's article, "the story was true, and now the audience were
part of it."
        Look yourself in the mirror and be honest, Helfgott's piano playing
is not *that* bad. Bad, after all, is relative. David Helfgott is a better
pianist than my grandma, and she studied the piano for years (no offense,
Gran.) Compared to the keyboard players for 18 out of 20 pop bands on the
charts, David Helfgott is marvelous. Compared to Horowitz, Helfgott does
indeed stink. This is where the problem comes in...
        I have no problem with David Helfgott performing recitals around
the world, nor with the recitals being advertised in newspapers or on
classical radio stations, and I don't really care how many cds he releases,
either. Truthfully, I don't think his recitals would bother too many
critics were it not for the unrealistic blather that his own PR people spin
to the media about how fabulous a performer he is. As Dutton says, the
Helfgott entourage is asking for it. It is troublesome to hear Helfgott
billed as a musical genius, and to hear him lauded as the '90s Horowitz or
Gould, because (to quote an old Morrissey song,) "You just haven't earned
it yet baby." Sending Helfgott on the road with nothing but a piano and a
pack of cigarettes would have been more than enough to draw crowds, there
was no need for his promoters to start ridiculous rumors that his playing
was akin to Rubinstein. That, unfortunately, was like throwing poor David
to the lions.
        Helfgott is decades out of practice; having played cantinas and
piano bars for years on end has left him with deplorable bad habits and
sloppy technique, and even if he were to study for another 15 years,
there's no way to predict whether he has enough mental stability to perform
professionally. He grunts, he sings, he stops mid-movement to grin to the
audience, I can only assume that he isn't taking things very seriously,
which leads me to wonder: Should we? It's a pretty puzzle; sure the critics
hate Helfgott, but I don't think these shows are even remotely intended for
critical review. I know they aren't, in fact, because months ago I read an
interview with a promoter who remarked that it would be a big favor to
everyone involved if critics would NOT attend David's recitals. All of
which raises the question: if these are not performances directed at
classical audiences and critics, why the big campaign to make DH out to be
a classical genius? It's very confusing. I don't think Helfgott's fans care
if he is a genius, they respect him for pursuing his *dream* of being a
genius. Though I know they want to make their dollars back, his promoters
really should back off.
        While I briefly address the topic of Helfgott's unprofessionalism,
I do have to disagree with Dutton's assertion that GG never sang in live
performance. Though I personally never saw him perform, I have heard at
least 3 accounts from people who did that GG did sing audibly. I can hear
it on his live recordings, especially the Moscow concert. I find it ironic
that so many people (having heard so much about his bizarre mannerisms, no
doubt,) attend Helfgott's concerts just to get their look at the "freaky"
piano player; it has been said by some that a large percentage of Gould's
audience attended his recitals for much the same reason. The similarities
end there, of course. It would be unfair to compare, for the sake of a
little humming, a musician whose professional career spanned over 41 years
and whose achievements have been recognized the world over as visionary
with one whose talent (if there exists any) is unrefined, and whose
technique is sloppy and publicly derided. If Glenn Gould suffered any
mental illness, it was typified by the exercise of too much control, the
quest for unmitigated perfection. Conversely, Helfgott's illness seems to
be characterized by a total lack of self-control. Where one man fervently
seeks to maintain an eerie autocracy over his every emotion, memory and
action, the other seems to be ever on the brink of losing complete control
of the simplest of mental faculties. There can be no real comparison
between the works of these two men, only in the effect their work had on
others.
        Glenn Gould's music inspires a religious sort of devotion or
aversion from his fans. Even today, 15 years after Gould's death, most
classical music buffs are easily divided into two camps: Gould lovers and
Gould haters. His music can bring out a passionate appreciation in
listeners, raising their levels of understanding to euphoric heights and
expanding their musical consciousness to include music and composers they
might otherwise ignore. Those who dislike Gould find him arrogant, abusive
towards composition, self-serving in his interpretations and heavy-handed
in his performance. Similarly, Helfgott can both enrapture and enrage. His
fans find him to be an example of honesty, creativity, and purity
triumphing over despotism and negativity. His detractors find Helfgott to
be a charlatan, a no-talent simpleton exploited by the spin doctors. But in
the end, who is fit to qualify spiritual merit?
        I guess what I am saying is that for critics to devalue Helfgott
for lacking a virtuosity he may not have intended to claim is wrong. He is
what he is, like it or not, and be he fad or be he guru, he is still a
human being - as are his fans. It is downright paternalistic to worry that
an audience is not receiving a proper education as to the beauties of
masterfully performed classical music; such an attitude adds to the already
cumbersome image of classical music as elitist and superior - an image that
too many critics are willing to uphold. In music, as in any art form, the
value scale is subjective and there are always those that do not fit neatly
within the established traditions. Helfgott is something new; an accidental
film star who has been hurried past the traditional rise to the top. His
fans see something within him with which they can identify, they like the
fairy tale of love and second chances that he represents. I can tolerate
that.

Just my two cents,
Kristen

____________________________________________________________________________

"I have several titles for diseases which I am expecting to use in later
life and have not yet had occasion to make use of. I always find that a
good disease title will impress your average concert manager to no end."

                                                              -- Glenn Gould