GG: more on T&E?

[James Rhem <jrhem@itis.com>]

New to the list, I must ask is it considered bad form for me to say a
further word on the Ostwald book?

I am so pleased by the civil and intelligent disagreement with the opinions
I voiced earlier, I don't want to appear mean or petty by pushing some
points further.

I do agree with Veronica that the Ostwald book has a tone of respect and
friendship about it. And I strongly agree with her that when Ostwald
recounts his personal time with Gould one gets a very believable picture of
how when one knows such a creative person, the eccentricities seem much
less problematic (if still odd and at times irritating) than they do as
bald facts in black and white before people who did not know him and are
somehow unable to feel him through his playing.

That said, it is to me the tragedy and anti-ecstacy of the book that PO
doesn't keep to that posture in his writing and perspective. His experience
as a shrink adds nothing and his medical expertise (drugs etc) unfold for
me a repellant subtext in the book. By that I mean, I think I see/hear/feel
another story going on in this book, the story of a man close to but
ultimately slighted (or feeling himself slighted) by this person he admired
(perhaps even loved in a way). The sting of Gould's dismissal of his
earlier work on Schumann shows. Gould's dropping him after Ostwald fell
asleep in '77 when Gould played "The Idea of North" for him is something
Ostwald does not seem to have come to terms with and may be a latent
motivation revealed within the book for his having written the book.

Speaking for myself (who else?!), let me say that I despise Gould's Mozart
(most of it), adore his Brahms and Bach and most everything else, can't
wait to hear that famous Brahms Concerto recording with Bernstein, and
think his Solitude Trilogy is an absolute work of genius. I've produced
radio pieces for NPR on musical matters and I know what a joy and what a
frustration radio can be. Gould's genius obliterates the difficulties and
makes art out of the possibilities. I put on The Idea of North just to
listen to it just the way I would his Bach sometimes. I think Ostwald's
very clear idea that Gould was wasting his time with all this radio stuff
must have come across to Gould and why waste time with someone who doesn't
support or understand one's creative pathway. Gould was not a genius
lacking confidence in his genius!

So, to my mind, though he hides behind clinical friendliness, Ostwald comes
off to me as a shrink licking his personal wounds to some extent.  As I
must be coming off now as rather petty, it will seem ironic for me to say,
but what Ostwald's book starts out with, if finally failes because it does
not have enought of: generousity of sympathetic understanding.

Enough from James Rhem

Bye bye.


James Rhem                  
Executive Editor      &      Book Acquisitions Editor
THE NATIONAL TEACHING        ACE/Oryx Series 
& LEARNING FORUM                on Higher Education

http://www.ntlf.com		http://www.oryxpress.com

213 Potter Street            Phone: (608) 258-8747
Madison, WI 53715          FAX:   (608) 258-9955

E-Mail: (NEW ADDRESS!!!!!!!!!!)  jrhem@itis.com 
	or        71062,3053@Compuserve.com