Re: GG: Deification

[ptaussig@bcn.net (peter taussig)]

Greetings to all:
I have just joined the list and am fascinated by the 'deification' thread.
I knew Glenn in Toronto during the '70s where I was a concert pianist and
producer, and my impressions of him are completely based my many personal
experiences with him. I can tell you that of all the 'stars' I have dealt
with in my life I never met anyone of his stature who was less egotistical,
less self-conscious, and less likely to impose his opinion on others than
GG. He was opinionated for sure (and his opinions often changed) but I
never felt that the act of disagreeing with anyone ever implied the least
bit of disrespect. So the thought that he would think of himself somehow as
equal or better than Mozart (or anyone else for that matter) seems totally
preposterous to me.

I remember one night at the old CBC building my group was rehearsing Bach's
'Musical Offering' in a weired arrangement that included a clarinet (an
instrument unknown to Bach!). I was just barely stumbling through my piano
part and the others were just as ragged, when the door quitely opened and
in tiptoed no other than Glenn, garbage bag in hand, sat down quitely and
listened for a while. To say that we became self-conscious is putting it
mildly (it was the one time I fervently prayed that the floor somehow open
up beneath me and swallow me up - "why did we pick Bach?!"). Anyway, every
few minutes we stopped and created a "break" hoping to give him a dignified
way of escaping, but he just hung around saying he hadn't heard the work in
a long time and was just enjoying the music.
When we asked for input or coaching he vehementally refused and insisted to
be just "a fly on the wall". During some of the breaks he read through some
of the parts with the violinist and clarinet player. At other breaks we got
into all kinds of lengthy discussions about music, and hillarious parodies.
Throughout he treated us as equals, as colleagues. I am sure if Artur
Rubinstein would have been at the piano he would have treated him no
differently. He had total respect for whatever we were doing (or not doing)
and he was having a good time. None of us wanted to leave, and since his
"day" was just beginning we didn't get home that night till 2 am. So it
turned out to be one of the longest and happiest rehearsals I could
remember.
I am not saying he was humble. He simply was too absorbed in each moment
and each new experience to be bothered with status and competitive
posturing.
As you can tell I am a lifelong fan of GG and am very happy to have found
this like-minded list.
Peter Taussig

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