Re: GG: Gould & competition

[mwilliamson@alston.com]

     Well, Eric, I think you have hit the nail on the head.  It 
     is a real drag for a great player to go through the various 
     humiliations of a piano competition.  Oh, it's supposedly 
     good for you to get constructive criticism, but only if 
     you're trying to play the way most people want to hear.  And 
     I don't think Mr. Gould was trying to do that.


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: GG: Gould & competition 
Author:  <eric.coates@which.net (eric.coates@which.net)> at internet
Date:    2/11/97 7:41 PM


Alun Severn wrote:
> 
> Dear All,
> 
> Has anyone else noted the contradiction in GG's attitude to competition? He 
> loathed competitive behaviour and believed all forms of competition to be
> inherently corrupting; and yet, throughout his life, it is noted that he 
> played the stock market -- the prime expression of capitalist competition
     
Sorry to be an amateur psychologist but having engaged in a lot of 
athletic competition, especially one-to-one sports such as squash and 
tennis my experience is that the most competitive types will often
deny having any great desire to compete. I'm not suggesting that GG was 
trying to deceive but I'm pretty sure that if he had any serious rivals 
capable of dislodging him from the particular castle of which he was 
king he would have tried even harder, possibly to detrimental effect. 
My guess is that he did not relish the idea of formal musical 
competitions for the same reasons that he gave up concert performance 
and also because all genius contains an element of unorthodoxy that is 
generally marked down by judges.
Eric