New article on Gould

[f h <boyboy_8@yahoo.com>]

Greetings Gouldians.  In today's mail came the monthly
BBC music magazine with it's full play CD.  What
caught my eye on the cover was the tag-line "How good
was Gould? -Genius v self-regarding eccentric".

I should have known better.  The author, one Mr.
Harvey Sachs, wrote a one page essay which I found
largely offensive.  For those of you out there who
subscribe to the BBC magazine, by all means read the
article and contribute your own thoughts.  What I am
going to do now is copy and paste the letter to the
Editor that I have sent off in response.  I hope that
you will all indulge me this moment as I felt that
Glenn's honor had once again been slighted.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


August 27, 2002

I write now in response to Harvey Sachs one page
article on Glenn Gould.  As a great admirer of Gould I
take exception to certain remarks by Sachs.  Since
when does an artist?s musical interests constitute a
?pseudo-philosophy??  This heavy-handed opinion evokes
an unfair and imbalanced label to Gould?s choices.
And what exactly was so ?pseudo? about his philosophy?
  Is Mr. Sachs confusing iconoclastic eccentricity
with bad taste?  Even more offensive is Sachs
statement that Gould?s radio scripts ?..served only to
demonstrate his continuing need to perform??.  Not
only has Sachs failed to correctly critique the
artistic merits of Gould?s wondrous radio
documentaries he has missed entirely Gould?s
motivation to examine radio productions.

Not only did Gould not perform music ??in order to
prove that any ?intelligent? interpretation was
acceptable?, it seems that Sachs has very little grasp
of Gould as an artist.  Gould was first and foremost a
profoundly introspective intellectual who was never
satisfied with traditionalist interpretations.  Gould
abandoned live playing because it took away from his
ambition to explore; he felt distracted and put off by
the spectacle of a live interaction.  Phobias aside,
Gould did not need to prove he had talent and in his
own selfish way he did not care if the public
clamoured for a front row seat.  His aim was to
penetrate into the hidden and to reveal what others
had not even looked for.

Gould was secondly the most avant-garde teacher.  Not
happy to merely find a new angle in the music, Gould
realized that the ideas were for everyone and a
perfected studio recording was his way of sharing the
moment.  Gould?s performances did set many teeth on
edge. However, his focus was to draw our attention
inwards and in almost miraculous ways he provided us
with new ears to hear with.  There are so many
examples.  In his hands, Beethoven?s Bagatelles show
elements of such humour, joy, melancholy and
transcendental spirituality that no other interpreter
has encompassed.  Has anyone ever heard the slow
movements of a Brahms piano piece played more
lovingly?  Who ever heard of the keyboard music of
Byrd and Gibbons before Gould pulled us into that
vista?  His Bach embodies a completely full
realization of contrapuntal architecture with a
sprightly articulation that is unmatched.

The radio documentaries were so far ahead of the age
that it is only now that we recognize how sounds can
be sensitively mixed to create an effect larger than
the individual voices.  Gould?s experiments with sound
reveal a restless mind constantly searching for a
fresh approach to the familiar.  It is thanks to
Gould?s research that we can access part of the
meaning of the subject at a profound level, which is a
far cry deeper than the insights offered by Mr. Sachs.
 Pity, Gould, who would have been 70 this year,
deserves much better treatment than this disrespectful
dispatch.


Fred Houpt


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