[f_minor] Glenn Gould Prize 2015

[Jörgen Lundmark]

Hello all,

I also agree it's interesting to see how F_minor suddenly has burst into 
life. I'm less certain this prize is worthy of such attention. This is 
in no way saying I completely disagree with the choices of the 
recipients. I will state as much that I don't think Leonard Cohen should 
have been given it, and that I'm much less critical of this year's 
recipient.

What I think is a more relevant question is why the Foundation is 
investing all of their energies into this prize? In 2008 -- seven years 
ago! -- when the magazine ceased to be, there was a promise that "new 
technologies" would bring Gouldiana to us fans. So far nothing worth 
mentioning has happened in that respect. I've been under the naive 
impression that the prize had somehow generated funds for what in all 
honesty should be the real activities of the Foundation: preserving, 
publishing and/or making available of Gould's recordings, films and 
texts. For this you need money -- and my hope was that the attention of 
giving these awards to famous people has done some good in that respect. 
Alas it doesn't seem that way, or am I mistaken? I very much hope so!

As for projecs, there so much that could be done. Why not publish a 
scholarly edition of ALL of Gould's texts? The best would be if they 
were then available for free on the net, or if that isn't possible they 
should be printed in an annotated edition. There still are quite a lot 
of Gould's recordings which are not released, not least his many 
broadcast performances (some works was never recorded commercially). I 
know of at least one edition with these radio performances which has 
been waiting to be released and for some reason hasn't. This is another 
example where the Foundation should be supportive. We are still waiting 
for the Toronto film to be available on DVD, as well as the much 
discussed Mozart documentary.

I hope that the GG estate, which does have money, does everything they 
can to help releasing Gould's unpublished work. It would be sad if some 
legal complication made a worthwhile project impossible. In the end, 
even if the writing of the will doesn't explicitly say so, shouldn't it 
be natural for an Estate to help spread the name of the bearer of its name.

Regards,
Jorgen

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