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Re: earliest Compositions by Glenn Gould



HI Valeria and all,
 
Please, I could know Your personal think about the  GG's earliest Compositions published  in the  recent Spring"Glenn Gould Magazine".
 
"Our Gifts" composed when Glenn was ten years old and "2 Pieces for Organ"  composed at
age 18.
 
I hope other people respond to your question.  Here is what I think:
We have to remember Glenn Gould was a teenager when he began the "2 Pieces for Organ."   He drafted these when he was passionate about Twelve-Tone music.  It is wonderful to have music written in GG's own hand.  I wish he had finished them.  They are not playable as is.  This rough sketch looks very interesting.
 
The song "Our Gifts":
Um ..  you have to remember that at this time all of Canada was involved in the war effort.  My parents told me that this was all Canadians could think about at this time.  Glenn's father was too old to enlist.  Everybody here did all they could to help, even school children.  It is quite likely that many of Glenn's classmates lost parents in Europe.  I am not familiar with too many patriotic war songs, but it seems to me that this song was very typical of the times.  Still, it is amazing that a ten year old boy got music published!
 
We have discussed GG's composing skill before on this list.  Most of what we have was done when he was very young.  In my opinion, if he had lived and composed seriously as he planned, he would have given us brilliant music.  Most of us improve with age.  It is not fair to judge his composing talent on work he did as a teenager.
 
I 'm impressed by these performances and I'm grateful to "The Glenn Gould Foundation" for this  publication.
 
Me too.
 
Anne