Re: Ghosts in the City of Angels

[Jim Morrison <jim_morrison@sprynet.com>]

Birgitte wrote, in a very nice email,

>The process of erosion often reveals some
> otherworldly beauty. It's why we love an aged person's face for what it
> says about the distance they've traveled.

I think the "bad" sound quality of the early Goldbergs helps contribute
to their air of timelessness.  I love the fact that not only Gould's
performance,
but also the actually "sound" of the recording is so different from any
of the other's I've heard.



>>(Well, this physical
> characteristic is probably somewhat less appreciated in L.A.!)

I'll have you know we have palm trees over 50 years old in LA and
they look majestically weathered.  They were imported just last year
from a palm tree farm in the Caribbean that the city owns
and they  have added much atmosphere to the area.

Hey, can you guess that I don't like LA?  It's not as bad as I often
make it sound, but I have so much fun complaining about it I can't
stop.  I'm not into movies, oil refineries, gyms, wasting water, information
technology,
modern and early beats, cars, shipping, the aviation industry, tiny
rivers that run in concrete channels, amusement parks, riots, college
football,
professional baseball, body piercing and tattoos, "adult" entertainment,
the Los Angeles Lakers (I was cheering for Portland) the banking industry,
having breakfast and supper in my car or van pool, traffic jams, drugs,
rain for only two months of the year, weapons, extra houses in the back
yards used to double the rent value of property, crazy high rent and
insurance, parking lots where there should be parks, a lack of seasons,
smog, or cosmetic surgery.  So I feel very excluded in this town where
someone,
I'm sorry I forget who (maybe the good writer Clark Blaise, another
Canadian)
said people think with their bodies.

I also don't like radio stations that change their names to KMZT (pronounced
K-Mozart) Big K's more well dressed brother.  I listen to 91.5, but my
favorite station is 88.5, which I am just in the range of.  88.5 was the
only
station in town that had the good taste to play Bach all day on his
birthday.

Please, somebody that knows LA, tell me what I'm missing.
>
> > I can't say that I've ever come across a Canadian in LA.
>
> My point exactly.
>

Boy, I walked right into that one, didn't I?  When they speak though, I
think I'd be able to tell their "clipped" English.
But I'd also catch some Minnesotans if that was my only method of detection.
So just what does give away the fact that someone is a Canadian in LA?  They
never wear a coat, like the natives do, when the temperature freezes between
70 and 60 degrees?

> > I think that Gould's abandonment of the concert stage
> was so positive for him (and indirectly for us since it enabled him to
> devote more time to the recording studio),


I agree, but it is a little sad, isn't it, that some of the reasons he quite
were to compose (which he rarely did) because he would no longer
fly in airplanes and because of his hypochondria.  I'd rather the man
have retired for better reasons.  And wouldn't it be great to
have more live recordings of Gould?

>that you could say Los
> Angeles was a good place for that particular Canadian and hence, a gift
> for classical music in general.

Once again, I think you're right.  Retiring from the concert stage looks
like
it was great for Glenn and us.  I'm nevertheless still wishing that he's had
something of Richter's
wanderlust in him, who seemingly never went into the recording studio.
I've only recently discovered Richter's lenghty discography and it's amazing
how
many of his recordings are of live performances.  And I know
this has been mentioned on the list before  (because I'm the one
who did it) but his live recording of Pictures at an Exhibition is
magnificent.
Once again, sound quality not an issue.

Would it have really hurt Gould to give, say, one or two recitals a year
in Toronto?

And hasn't the recent Salzburg discussion on the list proven, or at the
very least suggested, that Gould
gave us some of his best music during live performances?  And isn't it
possible
that Gould's retirement enabled some of his bad musical tendencies?  (That's
Bradley's
cue to come in and talk about late-Gould.  Where is Bradley, by the way?
Anybody
know if he's okay?  The absence of his educated voice has been noticed.)
Anytime I hear about a person holing up like Gould did later in life, I get
nervous
for them, being a firm believer that human beings thrive on contact with
others,
and get decidedly strange when they don't have that contact.*

>Anyway, from what I detect ...

Why thanks for the compliment.

>
> As for the notion of visiting the theatre where Gould gave his final
> concert and assessing it's
> ghostly "vibes," I think this is an intriguing prospect. Would you do
> it, and report back to the list on your experience?
>
> Birgitte

You know what, thanks to your encouragement I think I'll do it, though I am
made a bit nervous by visiting places of last things.  I will try to keep
the
celebratory aspect of this concert hall in mind.  I'm also going to make of
tape
of what Gould played at that concert : Bach's 4th Partita, Hindemith's
3rd Sonata, and Beethoven's 31s, and a few pieces from the Art of Fugue.
Does anyone know what four selections
from the Art of Fugue he played that night?  I'd like to listen to the tape
on the way to and from the Wilshire Ebell Theater.

Jim



*Yes I'm speaking from experience.**

**This is my nod of appreciation to a man I think is a good writer, David
Foster Wallace,
who often investigates the minds of people that compulsively complain or
chatter away.