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GG Eaton Auditorium
Dear Gouldians:
In the liner notes of the newly released the GG Edition
SMK 52 620, which carries GG's Bach rarities, Michael
Stegemann mentions the 1981 recording of the Italian
Concerto, which unfortunately is not on the disc:
. . . According to Columbia's Artist Contract Cards, a new
recording of the work was due to have been made on
August 29 and 30, 1981 (Gould's earlier recording dates
from the end of June 1959), although it could not have
been made in the auditorium at Eaton's department store,
as indicated in these cards, since the latter had been torn
down in the spring of 1980.
Coud it not have been made in the Eaton's Auditorium?
What is the source of its being torn down in the spring of 1980?
On the contrary, I have two counterevidences:
1) . . . With the building of other concert halls in Toronto,
its use declined in the 1960s and 1970s, and it was
closed in 1976 prior to the Eaton's College Street
closure 5 Feb 1977.
In the ensuing commercial redevelopment of the
building, the organ was removed and the auditorium's
seating was reduced to 100. Glenn Gould was the only
user of the auditorium at the time. He had begun to
record there in 1971 and continued to do so until
August 1981. (*Encyclopedia of Music in Canada*,
second edition, 1992, s.v. "Eaton Auditorium")
2) GG letter to Corinne Semon of CBS records
dated September 9, 1981, which reports the
account for Eaton Auditorium recording sessions,
1981 Aug 1-3 (unpublished, found in the database of
the Ottawa GG archives)
I cannot decide which is the case. Did he record the Italian
Concerto in Eaton or not?
Regards,
Junichi