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Re: [F_minor] doubts and other stuff
Who can "doubt" that GG was quite correct in saying that Mozart's little
ditties all seemed to be "cut from the same cookie-cutter.?" I think
another famous comment of his (and I paraphrase ) was that he enjoyed
running his fingers up and down the keys playing the Wunderkind's triumphs,
but he couldn't believe that anyone took them seriously. Now, coming from
Buffalo, home of the steel mills, blue collar, and paradoxically some of the
finest music I've ever heard, I was exposed to Webern, Berg, John Cage,
Schoenberg, etc. long before they were in fashion. (Are they in fashion
yet?) Michael Tilson Thomas said he could perform things in Buffalo that
he'd never get away with in New York! But that was then, and I digress.
The point is, many people said back then that they found this new music
"interesting," but they couldn't believe anyone took it seriously! How
Gouldian does that sound? I myself was young enough to pretend an absolute
absorption in atonal noises that were perfectly appalling. (That last
sentence was in A-major). But it really is all subjective after all, and if
Glenn was truly trying to find something in Mozart that couldn't be heard in
traditional renderings, then cheers! I tend to think he was just trying to
break the boredom, but why should he even play it at all? Is the joke on
us? Are we all afraid to say that Mozart just wasn't - uh - let's say, all
he was cracked up to be?
Remember Glenn singing Wagner to the animals at the Toronto zoo? The
elephants all trumpeted and walked away, the lions tried to cover their
ears, and GG was absolutely delighted at their reactions. He laughed and
said, "Perhaps something at a slower tempo." Maybe audiences were all like
the animals in the zoo to Glenn. He wasn't laughing at us really, but he
was just on such a different plane that he couldn't help but find us
charmingly amusing when he played something like Mozart for us. As for me,
I am not ashamed to say that I can't really listen to a Mozart sonata all
the way through without dozing off. And if they ever played anything
vaguely approaching 12-tone in Santa Barbara, and I would still feign rapt
attention and hope that those without ears wondered what they were missing.
I have never understood the parallel between Bach and Richard Strauss that
GG so patiently tried to teach us, but I would never admit it - not even to
this group. As for Beethoven, I've only heard Glenn play the "Emperor," and
it's my favorite performance of the piece. The one with Stokowski
conducting.
My Foss/GG anecdotes will appear here soon. I have to check some details
with friends back east to be sure I get it right. One I can share is that
Lukas, apparently on about 12 hours notice that Glenn was ill and couldn't
perform as scheduled with the Buffalo Phil, substituted for him and played
the entire concert just as it was billed. AND he conducted as well, of
course. Maybe Lukas had prepared in advance, knowing GG's propensity for
canceling. But my source tells me, no, Lukas could actually do that on a
moment's notice.
Well, that was my cadenza, and I must be off. Let the arguments rage on!
Anne
----- Original Message -----
From: "paul wiener" <pwiener@ms.cc.sunysb.edu>
To: "Houpt, Fred" <fred.houpt@rbc.com>; <F_MINOR@email.rutgers.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 12:08 PM
Subject: RE: [F_minor] doubts
And if he had recorded that very lesson,
exemplifying his points, what a great unselfish
contribution it would have been by Professor Gould!
At 02:55 PM 12/8/2008, Houpt, Fred wrote:
Hi all, just a very quick note. On the weekend I was scrolling through some
GG stuff on Youtube when I listened to his whimsical playing of Mozart (I
think this was a very famous theme/variation thing....) In any case, he was
chatting with someone and the guy says to GG, "play it like Hollywood would
like" and GG breaks into your very typical, heard it a million times
version.
Then he stops and says how boring this was and plays it and explains it
variation by variation the way it appears on the recording. He said that
he went out of his way to dramatically exaggerate the tempos to make it
sound fresh. He explained how he wanted to find a new way of exploration.
You should all listen to him because frankly his logic was firm, not crazy.
He knew that it was risky but above all he felt that in playing it this way
he was forcing an overly familiar theme to be looked at in a completely new
way. That's GG's insightful genius and incredibly brave self confidence
for you.
Regards,
Fred Houpt
Toronto, Ontario
[snip]
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