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"Theological...etc.
Its not what you play, how you play it or who is playing it. It is about what
you like.
Glenn built himself this niche. He "recomposed" or finished composing what he
thought the music was supposed to make you feel as well as hear.
Everyone was doing Chopin, Rach, and Liszt when he arrived. How many were
doing Bach? Very few. And on the piano? Fewer still! He chose composers that
matched his interests, talent and comfort levels. Sure there is a large: What
if? Factor to his recorded work. But how much Horowitz Bach is there? Or Van
Cliburn Bach? I don't hear anyone giving short shrift to those gapping holes.
Sometimes I feel as if people wish to hear his Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninof of
Chopin, just to see if he could do it. Some seem to imply that they think it
would be awful and only wish it existed so they could heap more criticism on
someone whose Mozart was a joke they "didn't get."
I feel like Glenn's playing stands out as fresh, exciting, controversial and
always, always, Glenn. It is as if he knew what would ring "my" bell and get
me to pay attention. Apparently, so do many others. If someone appreciates
the technical or accuracy merits of another artists, then that is fine too.
There is so much music, played by so many artists, read through the same rose
colored glasses of fealty to the printed note, that we should all feel a
little grateful that there was a Glenn Gould and that he had the ability to
read the same pages through a kaleidoscope, just so we could hear and feel
different about the same old stuff.
In any case, he was probably the first to realize the "phenomena"of Glenn
Gould before anyone and did his best to exploit that particular option
available to his career.
He paved the way for subsequent artists in the classical world to take
advantage of each successive advance in new media, as it became available.
And in doing so, not only Glenn, but many other artists learned the
importance of exploiting their personae into lasting images of visual and
auditory programming of historical importance.
I hope this adds something constructive to the debate.