apologies again

[Jim Morrison <jim_morrison@sprynet.com>]

Hi Fminor

Just a quick message to say I know that I DO misinterpret people at times,
and I DO read into emails more than is really there and sometimes miss what
literally is there, and I really am sorry for having done that to some of
the people on this list.

I  don't like "arguing" or having lengthy discussions that keep questioning
basic beliefs of the others, and that frustration comes out in my emails,
which I don't want to do on this list devoted to people sharing their
thoughts about our hero Glenn Gould.  I'd rather have analyzed a movement
from the Partitas, say, than go on this long about Gould's personality.
(Personality and genius being such debatable topics.)

Anybody ever see the video An Art of the Fugue?

In it GG quotes a funny passage from Schweitzer on the stillness of Art of
Fugue.

I found the quote on pages 426-27 of his book J. S. Bach Volume One.

"The theme cannot strictly be called interesting; it is not a stroke of
genius, but has plainly been made with an eye to its manifold "workableness"
and capacity for inversion.  Nevertheless it grows upon us after repeated
hearings.  It introduces us to a still and serious world, deserted and
rigid, without colour, without light, without motion; it does not gladden,
does not distract; yet we cannot break away from it."


(If I remember the show correctly GG didn't make it sound like Schweitzer
was talking about the subject, but I could easily be wrong on this.  Anyone
remember Gould's comments better than I?)


And then the comments:

"We get the same impression from the first four fugues...with the fifth
fugue, however, the monotony is broken...From the eight fugue onwards, it
becomes more and more animated."

I guess Daniel and I, who have some trouble listening to Gould's organ art
of fugue album, should skip listening to the first tracks and move on to the
more exciting ones.  Perhaps there's only so much you can expect from novice
organ listeners.



Bye,


Sometimes overly defensive Jimmy