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Re: GG: Gould & competition
Well, Eric, I think you have hit the nail on the head. It
is a real drag for a great player to go through the various
humiliations of a piano competition. Oh, it's supposedly
good for you to get constructive criticism, but only if
you're trying to play the way most people want to hear. And
I don't think Mr. Gould was trying to do that.
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Subject: GG: Gould & competition
Author: <eric.coates@which.net (eric.coates@which.net)> at internet
Date: 2/11/97 7:41 PM
Alun Severn wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> Has anyone else noted the contradiction in GG's attitude to competition? He
> loathed competitive behaviour and believed all forms of competition to be
> inherently corrupting; and yet, throughout his life, it is noted that he
> played the stock market -- the prime expression of capitalist competition
Sorry to be an amateur psychologist but having engaged in a lot of
athletic competition, especially one-to-one sports such as squash and
tennis my experience is that the most competitive types will often
deny having any great desire to compete. I'm not suggesting that GG was
trying to deceive but I'm pretty sure that if he had any serious rivals
capable of dislodging him from the particular castle of which he was
king he would have tried even harder, possibly to detrimental effect.
My guess is that he did not relish the idea of formal musical
competitions for the same reasons that he gave up concert performance
and also because all genius contains an element of unorthodoxy that is
generally marked down by judges.
Eric