Rothstein article

[Mary Jo Watts <mwatts@RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>]

Hi All--

David Pelletier mentioned an article about GG by Edward Rothstein in
today's New York Times and I wanted to include the URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/28/arts/28CONN.html

Be sure to look at it within the next week or so because I think you have
to pay after a certain amount of time to view the Times archives.

I'd like to quote a passage from the piece, a piece which raises questions
about concepts such as awe, the mundane, even Sony's marketing buzz word,
"wonder"-- taken from Gould's idea about the nature of art, to produce a
state of wonder and serenity. I would be interested to hear f_minors
weigh-in on these concepts we think we have some general mutual
understanding of.  Do we?  And while all states of pleasure to some
degree-- is the purpose of art to create these atmospheres? Is this the
appeal of Gould's playing-- that it offers solice in certain ways.  Is his
stress on structure soothing.  What are your favorite recordings and do
they appeal to you because of these qualities?

My favorite recording is the Brahms Intermezzi because at moments they
overflow with a rich sadness-- it's not throughout-- in fact it may be a
measure here and there that I listen carefully for. No grandure-- I can't
quite put words to it.


Anyway, Rothstein, URL above:

        "But the call [from Gould] was also unexpected because it was just before
        the beginning of the Jewish Holy Day, Yom Kippur-- a day of solemnity and
        self-scrutiny, the climax of a period known as the "Days of Awe" in which
        the questions asked are ultimate ones, concerned with life's
        unpredictability and human frailty. At any other time, who would not have
        been grateful for such a call, punctuated as it was by expressions of
        pleasure? Yet in the rush before sundown, the mundane concerns of ordinary
        life would have to be put aside. I apologized. We had to cut our talk
        short. What about Thursday?  Perhaps then? And so we planned.

        But when Thursday came, Gould was in a coma, the victim of a massive
        stroke that overcame him the day after we had talked-- two days after his
        50th birthday. And when Friday came, I was writing his obituary for The
        Times."