Re: GG: Great Genius and beatific felicity

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

On Thu, 25 Sep 1997, Veronica Xavier wrote:

> >That Gould fella, he was one interesting dude with a lot of ideas.  I
> >reckon I be likin' some of 'em, and some of 'em not so much.  He sure
> >could play that piana, yup, yup.
> >...and *he* [Bach] knew he was one of the major kick-butt composers...
> 
> Well, I don't know how your post was intended, but I found it quite
> amusing, and admittedly much closer to my head's particular altitude than
> some of the more, well, 'sophisticated' analyses....
> 
> So, shall we see this personality again?  Have you bestowed a name upon it,
> Dr. Lehman?

Haven't thought of a name fer this guy yet, but thet's a good idea.  I
been workin' on him on 'n' off since movin' to the Valley here last year. 
Best way is to go hang out at the Wal-Mart 'n' hear people talk at their
kids.  We got some latex hand puppets at home (like three bovines from Ben
& Jerry's, and a hippo and some others) and they have their own
personalities, but this here guy's not really zactly like them.  I guess
he's *sorta* like Aloysius Brown, Rottweiler Handhund, but talks more
lazylike and is less jumpy.  Aloysius is more into chasing birds than
listenin' to longhair music.  We'll ponder a name fer the new guy.  Oh,
okie-dokie, how 'bout "Nelson Jenks," not too bad a name.  Sorta in honor
of that cool way Willie Nelson does augmentation and then double
augmentation of the melody towards the end of "Blue Skies," there's
somethin' I really like about his tone and his delivery, the way he gently
sangs 'cross the beat in his performances, it's so casual yet controlled
yet free, I dunno what all, I be likin' it.  The "Jenks" part is
pronounced "Jaeynks," gotta get them triphthongs into it. 

Anyways, to get to the main point here, with all this here jabberin' and
whinin' by that "Dr. Lehman" fella (which y'all are callin' him, he don't
say it hisself) about GG havin' his way with the KdF unfinished triple
fugue, I was all reminded of what that GG wrote hisself about his way with
the last three Beethoven sonatas, back in 1956 when he was a youngun, and
he *knew* the critics was gonna jump on his deliberate underinterpretation
despite what he said (i.e. he played the sonatas without making them into
a Great Mystical Experience Of Late Beethoven), and shore 'nuff they did
get on his case for being all impertinent, so anyway he wrote this right
there on the record cover: 

[yadda yadda yadda, some stuff about other guys saying Beethoven's all
spiritually soared beyond the earth's orbit, or mebbe calcified and
impersonal and impervious, more yadda yadda yadda about all that being
philosophical "cat crap," as my work buddies here would say, then he winds
it all up with this bizness here:] "These sonatas are a brief but idyllic
stopover in the itinerary of an intrepid _voyageur_.  Perhaps they do not
yield the apocalyptic disclosures that have been so graphically ascribed
to them.  Music is a malleable art, acquiescent and philosophically
flexible, and it is no great task to mold it to one's want--but when, as
in the works before us now, it transports us to a realm of such beatific
felicity, it is the happier diversion not to try." 

So there ye have it, young GG acknowledgin' straight out that it's no skin
off his back to mess around with musical content or interpretation to make
some other point.  And he says that (at least at this point, for these
pieces) these here sonatas *don't* need his particular help or molding; 
he chooses not to mess with 'em.  Well then, why did this same GG then
later in his career (1981) go back on this, and mold Bach's Goldbergs and
the KdF triple fugue with all those artificial articulations and dynamics
and slow introspective moodiness and other stuff, that gets that Lehman
guy's dander up 'n' givin' him what-for because it's all getting in the
way of the music?  Didn't GG trust Bach to give us a decent enough realm
of beatific felicity on his own, arready, like Bach is less excellent than
Beethoven?  GG goes from doing arguably too little to late Beethoven, to
doing arguably too much to late Bach.  Why?  Does he think Bach's music
don't work 'less it's all twistable like Gumby or somethin', and plus all
painted up in heavy eyeliners 'n' lipstick 'n' stuff, to boot?  I gotta
tell ya, Willie Nelson wouldn't do that to a song, he's real tasteful. 
But come to think of it, I dunno if Willie likes Sara Lee or not.  Probly
moot. 

By the way, a little anecdote from this mornin', thought it was sorta
funny.  Caught the cat enjoyin' herself hedonistically with the Ostwald
book.  It was sittin' there on top of Lehman's reading pile on the
windasill, and she clumb up there and sorta tasted the corner of it, and
then rubbed her face against it for a while, like all in ecstasy, itchin'
herself.  I figgered hey, let her have her fun, it's understandable, I
like the book too, just in a different way, y'see.  Good kitty. 

Nelson Jenks ~ Harrisonburg VA, USA ~ 38.44N+78.87W
bpl@umich.edu ~ http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/