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Re: GG: Humming
Its not what you play, how you play it or who is playing it. It is about what
you like.
Glenn built his niche. He "recomposed" or finished composing what he thought
the music was supposed to make you feel as well as hear.
So what if he used it as "cues". When he arrived; everyone was doing Chopin,
Rach', and Liszt . How many were doing Bach? Very few. And on the piano?
Fewer still! He chose composers that matched his interests, talent and
comfort levels. Sure there is a large; What if? factor to his recorded work.
But how much Horowitz Bach is there? Or Van Cliburn Bach? I don't hear anyone
giving short shrift to those gapping holes.
Sometimes I feel as if people wish to hear his Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninof of
Chopin, just to see if he could "do it". Some seem to imply that they think
it would be awful and only wish it existed so they could heap more criticism
on someone whose Mozart was a joke they "didn't get."
I feel like Glenn's playing stands out as fresh, exciting, controversial and
always, always, Glenn. It is as if he knew what would ring "my" bell and get
me to pay attention. Apparently, so do many other listeners. If someone
wants to appreciate the technical or accuracy merits of another artists, then
that is fine too.
Regarding his singing along? So he broke a few rules. Again, there are
hundreds of recordings by people who don't sing along. I am sure that many of
them offer equal if not superior playing minus the "nasal continuo", but how
many of them, are people arguing over. If it were possible for the "Singing
Contrapuntist" to appear: How many of us would trample over each other to be
the first in the door? How many current artist's would elicit that response
for an upcoming concert if they advertised: "Guaranteed, No Singing, Just
Piano" ?
There is so much music, played by so many great artists, all reading through
the same rose colored glasses of fealty to the printed note. Don't you think
that there might be some room for a Glenn Gould with the ability to read the
same pages through a kaleidoscope.? We should all feel a little grateful that
there was, just so we could have options on how we hear and feel about the
same old stuff.
In any case, he was probably the first to realize the "phenomena"of Glenn
Gould before anyone else and did his best to exploit that particular option
available to his career.
He paved the way for subsequent artists in the classical world to take
advantage of each successive advance in new media, as it became available.
And in doing so, not only Glenn, but many other artists learned the
importance of exploiting their personae into lasting images of visual and
auditory programming of historical importance.
Which is why we spend time tapping out passionate messages to each other .
I hope this adds something constructive to the debate.