GG: A Hearty Slap on the Back...

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@abs.net>]

>
> On Fri, 3 Sep 1999, Elmer Elevator wrote:
>
> I'm not so sure about this.  If we're talking about the same thing,
that
> is, the incident over which Gould sued Steinway, then I'm pretty
sure it
> was more of a slap on the back.  Or the shoulder, to be more
specific.
> Gould claimed that the offending Steinway rep. pushed down hard on
his
> shoulder, causing damage and affecting his playing.
>
> -Jeremy

That's what I remember, too. It's often referred to as a handshake,
but that's probably because people remember the Glenn Gould attitude
toward handshakes and connect it with this incident.

I also remember reading that the Steinway rep. was a teensy bit
annoyed with GG at about the time this incident occurred. Most of the
biographical coverage of the incident seems to ignore this side of the
incident and cover it from the "Wasn't Glenn Gould bizarre?"
viewpoint. Why haven't more of them covered the incident from all
sides, examining the motivations and underlying feelings of the rep.
as well? It's easy to point the finger of blame at GG, because he was
a known eccentric. But how come none of them point out that slapping
Glenn Gould on the back does seem like a bad career move for a
Steinway rep.?