Re: Gould-cult...

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@sff.net>]

At 08:02 PM 9/2/01 +0200, Juozas Rimas wrote:
> Looks really cult-like: as if he were a pop-star and the adorer were
> adolescent.
> Nothing bad about this but for me it contradicts what I regard to be the main
> value in Gould - his art, interpretation of some very profound music: not his
> personality as such or let alone his image.

I don't think talking about GG's personality makes a fan into a "cult"
member. If it does, where do I join? <wink> Glenn Gould's art is, of
course, the most important part. But that doesn't mean fans shouldn't
discuss the other aspects. For one thing, surely Glenn Gould's personality
had a lot to do with how that art was created. Besides, Glenn Gould wanted
to be remembered as more than just a pianist, so he might be disappointed
in us if we restricted our discussions to the music. Glenn Gould said that
his music tells the listener something about himself, so how can we resist
trying to find out what makes him tick? Even if we fail, we have to strive.

Besides, there is more than one type of Glenn Gould fan. Trying to put GG
fans into boxes and force them to create only one type of web page is like
trying to tell the young Glenn Gould he should play Chopin instead of Bach
because that's what's expected.

Glenn Gould fans, like F-Minor, are made up of many different types of
fans. Some like to talk only about the music, others like to talk about his
personal life to the exclusion of all else. I hope that F-Minor can realize
these differences and accept them. People of many different cultures live
together in Toronto. America has its "melting pot" concept -- where people
are supposed to become more like the norm. (zzz) But from what I've heard
(don't know if it's true), Canada appreciates and allows the differences.
So if people of many types can live alongside each other in Canada
(sometimes clashing but often dining at ethnic restaurants!), surely fans
of many different styles can get along on F-Minor.

Personally, I'm glad that so many people appreciate Glenn Gould, in all his
aspects. I'm also especially glad that younger fans have joined the list.
If younger people failed to appreciate Glenn Gould, that would be a
tragedy, and I think we all know that.

Not all GG fan web sites are going to be to everyone's liking. That would
be impossible to accomplish unless you happened to be the National Library
of Canada or Mary Jo Watts. <wink> There _should_ be more than one type of
site, because there are more than 32 sides to Glenn Gould.

This ties into F-Minor and something I've been meaning to discuss:

Not all threads on F-Minor are going to be to everyone's liking. If you
don't like the detailed music threads, then ignore them and start something
else. Please don't respond to those threads by saying that you're
bored.  If you don't like the fact that a thread is about Glenn's personal
life, then please try to keep in mind that no one on F-Minor is saying
anything hurtful about Glenn Gould. We are talking about him because he
interests us. Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?

Finally, if you don't like a particular thread, start a new one. If you
don't like threads about GG' s personal life and you want to talk about the
music, or the Idea of North, or Glenn Gould and Zen, or Glenn Gould and his
love of animals, then for all means do so. Glenn Gould himself was
interested in many things other than music.

BTW for a fine discussion of GG and cultism, please read Bob's excellent
post on that very topic:
http://www.tug.org/mail-archives/f_minor/msg04193.html

Anne M. Marble
Can currently be seen wearing a grey robe and chanting "To me, the ideal
audience-to-artist relationship is one-to-zero relationship" in airports.