GG: The Gould Variations

[Katherine Lee <klee@dna.bc.ca>]

This weekend, I watched a movie called The Gould Variations, directed by
Manuel Huerga.

It was a very interesting film.  Some of the film editing techniques are a
little unconventional, but overall, it's a very good representation of the
man and his ideas.  The Idea of North and his other radio and musical
compositions are emphasized, as are Gould's "unconventional"
interpretations of Mozart and Brahms, (specifically his performance with
Bernstein and the NY Phil).

Some of the ideas discussed had to do with Gould's relationship to music.
There is a Hungarian pianist who appears throughout to talk about Gould and
his work. (I didn't catch the pianist's name in the opening titles ? and
annoyingly, the name was neither subtitled in the movie nor listed in the
end credits.  If anyone has seen this movie and can fill me in on this, I'd
appreciate it!)

One of the archival clips included in the film is of Gould explaining his
early keyboard technique, which was developed on the organ, with its
emphasis on the bass pedalling.  Gould then goes on to explain that Mozart
is conventionally played with a softer left-hand and more emphasis on the
right hand and upper melody.  He then demonstrates how HE does it, with a
much greater emphasis on the left hand and the bass parts.

Clips from the film versions of the Idea of North and Gould's "ode" to
Petula Clark are accompanied by clips of Gould explaining the compositional
technique to a producer? a critic? and by the Hungarian pianist's analysis.
The pianist talks about how he regrets there weren't more radio
compositions ? he found them a great deal more interesting than Gould's
musical compositions.  He then continues to explain his theory of Gould's
relationship to music ? in that he didn't believe that Gould was so much
enamoured of the music as he was with sound ? and the IDEA of SOUND.
Controversial perhaps, but so profound.

There are other archival clips, of the young Gould performing at home, at
the recording studio and of him explaining the studio microphone placement
techniques, for example.

Because of the language/translation issue ? there were some funny errors.
For instance, the Estate of Glenn Gould is credited as the State of Glenn
Gould (if only)!  And I'm sure the credit listing Jerry Grieg should have
been Jessie Grieg.

Throughout the film I kept thinking of the members of the f_minor list and
how comments, such as the one about the idea of sound, would be met.  Has
anyone else seen the film, and if so, how did you find it?


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Katherine Lee, Multimedia Developer
DNA Multimedia Corporation                   Tel: (604) 730-0306, ext. 103
1737 West 3rd Avenue, Ste. 230               Fax: (604) 732-7331
Vancouver, B.C.                              E-mail: klee@dna.bc.ca
V6J 1K7 Canada                               http://www.dna.bc.ca

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