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Discovery of Gould, post '81



    Thanks for your comments and feedback Laura and Jim Morrison.  Jim's use of the phrase "artist versus art" was very apt.  After thinking some more about this since my last post,  I have to conclude that it is indeed very hard to separate the artist from the art.  I think I was trying to discern whether our fascination with the lives of performers is warranted, when a study of the lives of the composers themselves might bring us a better understanding of the music.  I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud here.  Although, I can think of a number of artists that have deepened my understanding of music by their presentation of it.  Gould is one of course, and another was Yehudi Menuhin.  In my particular case, I really didn't start delving deeply into Gould's music and life until after 1981.  Its kind of funny, but there was a time when I knew absolutely nothing about Gould, and after seeing his program Glenn Gould's Toronto I thought he was just another on-air personality at the CBC, like Peter Gzowski.
 
    But there are some artists that become so inseperable from their art that you have to undertake a whole study of their personalities to understand why they do what they do, the music of Richard Wagner for example.  I am currently just finishing up with the Peter Ostwald book.  From what I understand, this book has a tendency to arouse some strong debate amongs Gould's followers.  What is the general opinion on this?  Is it like another Albert Goldman book of the likes he wrote about John Lennon and Elvis?  I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to read a few more by different authors and get a second or third take on the topic.  But back on the subject of the artist that becomes synonymous with his art, I've come to associate the name of Glenn Gould as being the last word when it comes to Bach interpretations.  When I went to buy the Art of Fugue I'd already decided beforehand that it was going to be a Gould recording over any other.  There is so much in this music, and I have to say that it is primarily because of Glenn Gould that I'm exploring further and further into the music of Bach.  So there it is.... I guess I've just answered my own question.
 
    By the way Laura, the concert I was at when I heard of Gould's death was at a performance of the chamber ensemble Museus at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge, where I was living at that time, nearly 20 years ago now.  Thanks for your comments again Laura and Jim.  And thank you, Glenn Gould:  Your passion for your subject is infectious.
 
    Tim Hitchner.