My favorite album typographically, of course, is GG's Liszt transcription of Beethoven -- the liner notes composed entirely of criticisms by psychiatrists (accusation of megalomania) and socialists (criticism for putting so many orchestra workers out of a job). One of the delights associated with GG is his cavalier attitude toward all criticism. He didn't just disagree with his critics -- he thought they were simply of no importance, he banished them all, Prospero-style, into thin air.
Bob Merkin
"Anne M. Marble" wrote:
I was glancing through Friederich's biography of GG again, and I noticed his criticisms of the Solitude Trilogy. Sheesh. If I had listened to him, I might never have bought a copy of it!I can understand that some people don't appreciate the works. I can also understand the criticisms that by editing voices, Glenn Gould was controling what the people said. (Yet in a way, wasn't that the idea?)
BUT... Whatever they thought of it, it was obviously important to GG. It was probably the work about which he felt the strongest.
If the subject of your book feels really, really proud of something, then by giving it short shrift, you're giving the subject (and interesting readers) short shrift.
People aren't going to read those biographies and think, "I must go listen to those pieces." They're going to remember other things about GG instead -- in some cases, the *wrong* things.
Will there ever be a biographer of Glenn Gould who actually cares about and/or "gets" the Solitude Trilogy? (Pleeease?)
Anne M. Marble