Composers we like

[Anne Smith <smithqa@nexicom.net>]

Dear F minors,

From: Nemesio Valle, III:

"GG was indeed "goofy."  But, I would say that not many of us know people
quite that goofy, so goofy that they wear winter clothes in the summer,
sleep in the day/work in the night, parade around in boats to scare away
fish from fishermen, play Bach and Schoenberg to absolute perfection and
hate most of Beethoven and Schumann, --"

I am most curious about why you think that Glenn Gould hated most of
Beethoven.  I have not read everything that has been written about and by
GG, but I have read a lot.  I have never come across this idea.
We have discussed on this list many times the TV shows that GG made.  May I
refer you to pages 106 to 127 of John Roberts' book "Reflections of a
Musical Genius - The Art of Glenn Gould"?  These pages contain excerpts from
the scripts of some of these shows.  From page 124 of this book:

"It was certainly clear that as a commentator Gould had real magnetism.  The
audience may have missed much of what he said, but Gould's enthusiasm,
passion and commitment to the music of Beethoven proved so contagious that
he managed to hold more than a million viewers."

The volume of music written for the piano and earlier keyboard instruments
is staggering.  Even a genius can only perfect a limited amount of this.  A
good teacher will expose students to all periods styles of the repertoire.
We all have certain types of music that we enjoy playing.  Most of us are
better at
some styles than others.  Most pianists specialize in the styles that they
find suit them. Nobody can learn it all.

I do not find it goofy, weird or strange that musicians dislike certain
composers.  I myself do not care for the music of Schumann.  Glenn Gould
often said that his posture at the piano meant that he was physically unable
to do justice to the Romantic composers.

Anne