[F_minor] "Pain Stops Play" : article in 'The Guardian' newspaper

[Kate Clunies-Ross <appassionata_kate@yahoo.co.uk>]

I have just read an article by Alfred Hickling from
The Guardian newspaper of last Friday (9th March)
headed  "Pain stopped play : Performing-related aches
and pains can end a musician's career. So why are many
of them afraid to seek help?"
It describes how certain physical problems can affect
the careers of professional musicians. even though
they tend to be reluctant to seek help. After a brief
discussion of the possibility that Paganini was
affected by Marfan's syndrome, sufferers of which have
very long flexible fingers, (this might actually have
enhanced his ability to perform) the article
continues:-
"If so, it would be a rare instance of a medical
disorder actually enhancing performance.
The opposite might be the case of the Canadian pianist
Glenn Gould, who grew up with a deformation of the
spine exacerbated by his unusually hunched position
over the keyboard. ...........while film footage
indicates that Gould's withdrawal from live
performance may have been accelerated by a pronounced
curling of the fourth and fifth fingers, similar to
the dystonia that halted Fleisher's career."

The full article can be found at
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2029103,00.html

( I have deleted a short reference to the possibility
that GG had Asperger's Syndrome, since judging from
past F-Minor posts, this subject can stir up heated
argument among our list members!)

But .....Given that a post-mortem diagnosis can be
debatable, and of little practical purpose unless it
helps us to understand the sufferer, is there any
truth in these statements about Gould? I remember his
father once mentioned he injured his spine in a fall,
when he was a young boy, but I have never come across
any mention of an actual "deformation" - not even in
Gould's own comments and musings about the various
pains and problems he experienced with his hands and
arms. I dont thinks he claims there was any real
deformity. Sure, he chose to hunch himself over the
keyboard,  but photos of him away from the piano don't
suggest any innate spinal abnormality. Yet obviously
his pains and problems were distressing; around the
time of his mother's death he seems to have virtually
given up playing or at least recording for around a
year. And as for the "pronounced curling of the fourth
and fifth fingers" ; has anyone noticed this either on
film or in still photos? In many portraits Gould
appears to be displaying his hands almost with pride;
to me his fingers look perfectly straight, and
wonderfully flexible when moving!
So is this article just another  example of the myths
and exaggerations that seem to gather around the name
of Glenn Gould?

Kate




		
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