Re: Rachmaninoff?

[Greg Romero <gregory.romero@yale.edu>]

On Thu, 8 May 1997, Leon A. Le Leu wrote:

> 
> 
> 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.

  I also don't think the discussion of Rachmaninoff has been out of place
on this list, as I think some people have found a way to tie Gould into a
discussion of Rachmaninoff in a relevant way, as I think this next quote
attempts to do which I would like to answer.
   

> 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'm not sure what you are talking about to be quite frank, and
whatever it is, I find it quite insulting.  As I stated before, Gould
never said anything explicit about Rachmaninoff, so I don't see how I
could possibly dislike Rachmaninoff just because my "hero Gould did not
like him."  I personally took about 4,500 K to describe why exactly I did
not like Rachmaninoff's music.  Obviously the sender of this message took
no pains to read the genesis of this thread.  What I did do was speculate
on how Rachmaninoff and other composers of his time period would have fit
in with Gould's musical aesthetics.  Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I felt
that was one of the most relevant ways to discuss Rachmaninoff in the
context of Glenn Gould.  The discussion of Gould is, after all, the
purpose of this e-mail list, is it not? 
     T 
         
> 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.
> 
   I'm very happy you find the music of Rachmaninoff enjoyable to play on
the piano.  I do too if I'm looking for a vigorous physical workout.  What
I think has gone wrong with this thread, as this response perfectly
demonstrates, is that an opinion is made without any substantive musical
justification.  If you like a certain composer "just because you do", than
I don't think there is any sense in displaying it on a list like this.
That would be better suited to a let's-adulate-Rachmaninof-list.  I and
several other people have discussed *why* we don't like Rachmaninoff, not
just the fact that we do.  What good does writing into this group and
saying, "I love Glenn Gould's piano playing." if no substantive reason is
giving.  Just chalk another one up for Glenn Gould, then, eh?  C'mon, in
order to have any meaningful dialogue on a question like this, we've got
to have reasons or else another meaningless volley of "I love
Rachmaninoff/I hate Rachmaninoff" would ensue. 

                               Greg Romero


> 
> Leon Le Leu
> Canberra
> Australia
>