Re: GG - 32-Short Films about Glenn Gould

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

From: Kate Clunies-Ross <katecluniesross@HOTMAIL.COM>


> I think it's well worth seeing too.
> In fact, following the recent f-minor messages, I have just been watching
it
> again and I believe that the format used ( the 32 'glimpses') gives a
better
> impression of GG than a conventional chronological biography would. Only
a
> couple of minor quibbles however;-
> I think possibly it gives you more to think about if you already know
> something about GG. When I first saw it (admittedly incompletely, coming
> across it by chance one late evening on TV) I knew practically nothing
about
> GG the man (although I admired the music) and therefore I was struck more
by
> his quirks than his art.

When I saw it, I knew very little about GG. I think I knew he hummed. I had
both the Goldberg recordings. I don't know how I missed the humming,
especially on the '81 recording. Maybe I'd been listening to "Eighties Rock
Night" too loudly? (But at least I know better than to get in a spaceship
with a guy named Major Tom.) So, anyway, I probably did wind up with a
picture of a very ... moody... artist -- although the humor was there.

The second time I watched the film (filum? <g>), I was amazed at how much I
noticed and/or understood now. ("Oh, Petula Clark! Now I get it.") I can
still remember when I recognized Ray Roberts during his interview because
I'd seen his picture in the Ostwald book. That was kind of spooky. :->

> Also, although Colm Feore's performance is great (the voice and
mannerisms)
> to me - now that I have seen the real thing on video!- he doesnt look
> physically like GG. I can understand why they made no attempt to portray
him
> actually playing the piano, but I think the film
> paints a rather dour portrait...it doesnt bring out enough GGs humour, or
> the joy and ecstasy of his music making - despite the scene showing him
> conducting and almost dancing as he listens to the playback of his own
> music.

It was Tim Page who said that to give a true picture of Glenn Gould, a film
 would have to combine "32 Short Films" and "Airplane!" ("Don't call me
Shirley.") Now that's an image...

>(I'm always struck by this quality of ecstasy...I'm thinking perhaps
> of the expression of Gould's face as he plays the Beethoven bagatelle on
the
> "GGs Greatest Hits" video....and by the way, whoever decided on that
title
> for the video should be quietly taken out and shot!)

I have that performance on the Kultur video edition ("Glenn Gould Plays
Beethoven"), along with the Emperor Concerto.

Some meanderings about esctasy

When the Ostwald biography came out, a reviewer in the British magazine
"The Spectator" said, ""Of the promised ecstasy there's hardly a trace.
Three quarters of the way through this overlong book comes virtually the
only mention of Gould's women friends, with the tantalising promise of
'more about that shortly'." There's more to the quote, but you can guess
the rest.

My reaction, of course, was "Aaaargh! Ostwald wasn't talking about *that*
kind of ecstasy." Did this reviewer really read the book, or was he just
looking for the "dirty bits"?

Now, some people will argue that artistic ecstasy and the (cough, cough)
other kind of ecstasy are very closely related. An artist I know said that
there is now a theory about sexual energy being tied into creativity. I
don't know if this is true, or just the theory du jour.

There's a quote by Janet Somerville in the Friedrich biography where she
comments on the ecstasty in the television performancse -- rather in a
literal way. Friedrich was discussing how some peole saw his dedication to
music as ascetic -- and she saw it as somewhat less so. ("When you watch
him playing the piano on television, that sort of thing is pretty clearly
woven into what he's doing. I mean, sexual can be very _deeply_ engaged in
a lot of things other than sexual intercourse, and it is engaged in making
music.")


BTW I'm usually kind to the title-challenged because I'm not very good at
coming up with titles myself. I once wrote a story called "All's Fair."
<zzz> But you're right, they could've thought of something niftier and more
Gouldian.

> But "32 Short Films" does give a sense of the man, and of the wide scope
of
> his work apart from the piano. I certainly think it is a 'must' for
anyone
> even slightly interested in GG.

When people I know express an interest in seeing it, I always offer to help
them "untangle" any confusing part. Too bad the video couldn't have
included a brief biographical booklet.

> Best wishes
> Kate Clunies-Ross
> PS  -  re the "Voyager' sequence at the end of the film - Am I alone in
> thinking this is  spooky? The idea of aliens listening to Gould playing
Bach
> not only long after his death, but perhaps long after the death of human
> civilisation or the earth itself, sends shivers down my spine.What would
> they make of the art we call "music", ... or indeed, of that gloriously
> human humming?                            Kate

My P.S. to your P.S.
I have this strange image of aliens landing on earth and saying, "Take me
to your Tower Records." Or worse, aliens trying to steal my Glenn Gould
recordings. (I run after the spaceship, shouting, "Wait! Sony will make
more copies for you! Come back!") OK, I never admitted to being normal...

I did once speculate on the reaction of the aliens upon hearing their first
Glenn Gould recording. Wouldn't that be a wonderful idea for a science
fiction anthology? If I remember correctly, there was already an anthology
about how the aliens reacted to Voyager -- how they interpreted it, etc.


Anne M. Marble