GG: Recordings

[Rachael Zimmerman <elisha-jt@juno.com>]

G'day f-minoreans,
Except for that brief period when David B. Klein stirred the list to
anger, f minor has been relatively quiet.  I really cannot wait to go to
the Gathering.  Hope more information regarding that would come up soon.

I've accumulated a modest amount of GG recordings, and read more deeply
into GG's writings regarding performance.  I decided to separate the
recordings to pre- and post- splice era, perhaps to see the difference
between one complete performance and one piece of a gamut trials.  If you
listen with headphones on, SOME of the splices and inserts can be
distinctly heard.

One of the pre- splice era recording I have of GG is his 1954 Goldberg
Variation, and I compared it with his 1981 version.  Though the former
recording is scratchy and in mono, I can detect a certain 'carefulness'
in his performance, but somewhat passionate.  In his later albums,
passionate or even 'sentimentality' does not exist often...or even at all
on some pieces.  I was told GG was not passionate, but an erring genius. 
He dissect every pieces according to tonality, historical context (the
article "Music in the Soviet Union") and music theory.  The good thing
about his pre- spliced recordings (which was a bad thing to GG) were that
they sounded human, and to be sure there were minor errors in his
playing..."the naked truth that [his] humanity is on displayed,
unadorned..." (GG Talks About GG With GG)  How different are GG's
recordings from his pre-splice to post-splice eras?  Personally, I don't
think a lot of listeners can tell whether a particular piece was spliced
into and insert "a good splice is a splice unheard" ("Grasses are always
greener in the outtakes"), but I speak from a stand point of only a few
recordings.  In many cases I preferred the 1954 over the1981, but then I
am biased.  GG wanted perfection, and I believe perfection is unavailable
to humanity.

A few times I think artists are bane of human existence.  A gamut of
people represents the category 'artists': musicians, painters,
philosophers, mathematicians...etc.  Artists represent realisation of an
ultimate goal that cannot be reached, but the goal's existence CAN be
realised.  Artists are ignoramus.  They still try to reach this goal of
perfection, knowing that they will never get there.  Yet they still
torture themselves in the process, eventually getting to the point of
madness in some cases.  May be if there weren't any artists, emotions
would not be realised and heightened by the common man, and human beings
would simply evolve into communes...without progressing and yet without
degressing.  Humanity's like that anyhow, but at least life will be more
bearable.

Then again, what life?

Cheers, Elisha 











Strong conviction is capable of destroying any prejudice.  The proof:
Glenn Gould.
--Nathan Perelman

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