Re: Gould-cult...

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

At 11:08 AM 9/3/01 +0200, Juozas Rimas wrote:
> I expressed my opinion and opinions shouldn't be taken as criticism
> instantly. I
> am interested in main traits of Gould's personality to understand his art
> better
> but the accent on his supposed sexuality was the last straw to me and I
> "trolled" a bit :))
> >Besides, Glenn Gould wanted to be remembered as more than just a pianist
>
> Interesting. He wasn't just a pianist - he was a musician but what was he
> else?
> As far as I know he wasn't a great composer, theorist, conductor, humanist,
> philanthropist, writer, painter... Being a musician does not seem insufficient
> for me. There are quite few musicians around the world.

You're right, being a musician is great. It might be enough, but it doesn't
have to be. Glenn Gould makes me _think_. Not just the music, but his
opinions, even (especially) those I don't agree with, writings, theories,
actions, etc. His opinions were controversial, and people on this list
often disagree with them firsthand, but those writings (and documentaries)
still exist. Should we ignore them, even if we disagree with them? Even if
some find them lacking in comparison with more scholarly works? I think
that would be a loss.

Glenn Gould wasn't a _great_ essayist, but I enjoy his essays anyway. So do
many others, while some think they are verbose, etc. While not everybody
likes them, that doesn't mean that his essays don't have fans, nor does it
mean they should be ignored. As for as being a philanthropist, how do we
really know? We don't know all the contributions Glenn Gould made.
Apparently he quietly made many contributions to people without asking for
recognition. That doesn't mean I'm going to start a separate thread on the
Salvation Army and The Toronto Humane Society, but I can still find those
things interesting.

Also, what about the Solitude Trilogy? Is it music? Is it an essay? Surely
that should be considered as one of his works. It was very important to
Glenn Gould, yet so far, his biographers have been rather disparaging about
it. So many people have talked about how hard it was to understand that I
was afraid to listen to it, but when I finally did, I realized that it
wasn't so hard to understand after all.

Many people on this list have been sharply critical about discussions about
Glenn Gould's personality. I still remember the time several of us were
accused of writing "banal" and "trivial" posts. You can imagine what my
reaction was when being accused of being banal and trivial. ;-> The poster
was upset that so many of the posts were about GG's personality rather than
the music. Yet some of us discuss GG's personality because 1) we don't know
that much about music; 2) it fascinates us; 3) perhaps these discussions
can give us some insight into what drives great musicians and other
artists; or 4) all of the above.