Re: Gould - Saint-Saens

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

On Fri, 4 Apr 1997, gp wrote:

> I would like to know what was Gould's opinion on french composer
> Camille Saint-Saens.
> I know he made a highly ironic remark on Saint-Saens music when he said:
> "I love Saint-Saens, especially when he doesn't composes for the piano..."

I can imagine that Saint-Saens' delightful, glittery piano concertos
probably offended GG's sense of the concerto as competition...but they're
so much FUN!  But GG played Strauss' "Burleske," which is from a similar
mold, so who knows? 

I'm wondering what GG might have thought of the way Saint-Saens' third
symphony was chopped up into theme music for last year's popular film,
"Babe" (about a pig who thinks he's a dog).  I thought it wasn't as
tastefully done as the way Bach got chopped up in GG's soundtrack for
"Slaughterhouse Five." 

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Bradley Lehman, bpl@umich.edu       http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/