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Re: A question for all you Gouldians

I know too many pianists who, although brilliant technically, suck at
musicality.   With all due respect, many pianists from cultures other
than Euro-based have difficulty understanding (and empathizing) with
occidental musical passion.  As a Eurasian 'white' musician, if I played
traditional Chinese or Korean music, just how authentic would my
interpretation be?  I might be able to play the notes flawlessly, but my
deeper understanding of the musical language would be limited.  You get
my point!
Cheers!

Juozas Rimas wrote:

----- Original Message -----
From: "l.caprotti@libero.it" <l.caprotti@LIBERO.IT>
To: <F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 10:38 AM
Subject: Re: A question for all you Gouldians

===
But I can tell you more! Have you (or somebody else) a recording of
something really difficult played by Gould?
===

I bet there are thousands of pianists around the world who can play the hard
stuff by Chopin, Liszt et al flawlessly, better than Gould and as well as
Horowitz. Who cares? Some of the skilfull guys got lucky and are regarded by
the public as being special. Mysteriously, some of the special guys don't
attract the attention of the public anymore when time passes by. Gould seems
to be one of those performers who is hard to forget and no one knows for
sure why.

Anyway, obviously there is more about GG's personality than just good skill.
I think he would as popular with a bit lower skill as well.

I also think his choice of Bach (and some other composers he played) was
natural, for the composers, especially JSB, didn't see the technical side as
a goal in itself. Quite a lot of Romantic composers had this attitude, to a
varying degree.


Juozas Rimas Jr (not the one playing)
http://www.mp3.com/juozasrimas (oboe, piano, strings)