Re: GG Eaton Auditorium

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

Hi, Junichi:

The Kazdin book contains some good details on recordings
made at the Eaton Auditorium.  It's a bit vague on exactly
when the structure was finally demolished;  the process
seems to have happened in stages.

I have seen some recording credits for Eaton dating from
1980, but I've not seen any for 1981.  My impression is
that the structure had been complelely torn down by that
point.

Perhaps our pal Gilles in Ottawa has some archival data
on this.  Or, perhaps someone at Sony has access to session
logs from the Italian Concerto sessions held in '81.

jh


On Fri, 28 Feb 1997, Junichi Miyazawa wrote:

> 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 1981 Aug 1-3 (unpublished, found in the database of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
>