Re: Rachmaninoff?

["Leon A. Le Leu" <lleleu@medeserv.com.au>]

I do not feel the discussion on Rachmaninoff has been out of place.  We can
love Rachmaninoff or hate him; it is reasonable to air our opinions.

The relevance to the Gould list is that I suspect there may be those who do
not like Rachmaninoff because their hero Gould did not like him.  One is not
required to take on all the opinions and prejudices of one's heroes.  I can
admire Gould as a person and adore his playing without sharing his views on
Rachmaninoff or Prokofiev or strange food or weird clothing or bizarre
lifestyle.

To identify so completely with Gould that you take on his opinions and
prejudices is rather pathetic and bordering on the pathological.

I find performing the piano music of Rachmaninoff to be deeply satisfying -
just as satisfying as any of the other piano composer  masters.  That's just
my opinion - but it is just as valuable as anyone else's.

As for the person who said "I hate hearing dollar signs instead of music!"
might one read into that the voice of a spoilt brat?  Rachmaninoff had a
family to feed and a lifestyle to maintain just like anyone else.  And one
can read dollar signs into Bach just as easily as into Rachmaninoff - Bach
had an even larger family to feed!  I cannot recall a single piece by
Rachmaninoff where any impression is given of lust for money triumphing over
artistic integrity.

Leon Le Leu
Canberra
Australia