RE: [F_minor] re: worldwide popularity polls

["Houpt, Fred" <fred.houpt@rbc.com>]

Good points.  As a Torontonian who listens to CBC FM regularly, I can
tell others....that we hear "live from Glenn Gould Theater" several
times a week.  Perhaps it is the case that for many Canadians their only
connection to the name Gould is the theater named after him? We take
much for granted as lovers of his life.  Canada is a big country and the
further you go away from his bronze statue on Front Street here in
Toronto and the further you are removed from listening to Classical
music and of being older than 40....well, you get the picture?  He sort
of disappears in the mist of other interests, other lives.  All the more
reason we should continue to tell others who do not know of Gould
joys.....of his wonderful output.  Without pounding on a Gould pulpit,
we can just make kind suggestions to those we think might be receptive
and leave it like that. 

All the best,

Fred Houpt
Toronto


 

-----Original Message-----
From: f_minor-bounces@email.rutgers.edu
[mailto:f_minor-bounces@email.rutgers.edu] On Behalf Of Sam Cronk
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:02 PM
To: f_minor@email.rutgers.edu
Subject: [F_minor] re: worldwide popularity polls


Just a few facts to think about, based on my ongoing experience with the
Glenn Gould exhibition in Ottawa/Gatineau:  fewer than 50% of
museum-going Canadians (who are otherwise literate and thoughtful souls)
know who Glenn Gould is or was. For visitors from French Canada, that
number is much lower. 

We've had visitors from Berlin, Vienna, Tokyo, and Dublin who know
almost every album, every nuance of Gould's performance style, who
couldn't wait until the exhibit opened.  But from across Canada and the
US, there is just not an overwhelming sense of recognition or
intellectual/emotional/aesthetic investment.  Even among local and
regional music departments, there is a mixed response not to the exhibit
but to "the idea of Gould".  Perhaps that's simply a reaction against
hagiography.

Granted, "museum audiences" don't necessarily know about art music and
Canadians are notorious for forgetting or undercutting our own icons,
but really: neither the face or soundscape are familiar for the majority
outside the academies.  Visitors are generally interested enough to find
out more, to walk into the exhibit and see what's the fuss is all about
--- but name recognition is simply not very high.  

Now, whether that is important to this group or to the legacy of Glenn
Gould is another matter, but it is an interesting thought for your
consideration. 

Thanks, 

Sam Cronk
Curator of Canadian Music
Canadian Museum of Civilization



 
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