Re: Gould and pacifism

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

>I recently listened to the two documentaries by Gould (one on Stokowski,
one
>on Casals) released at the gathering in Toronto this past September.  In
>both, Gould places pretty near the beginning these artists' views on the
>need for a change in the world toward a viewpoint that I would describe as
>pacifist. (...)

I haven't heard GG's Casals doc yet, but the Casals doc that Columbia
Records did in the 1960's (narrated by Isaac Stern) has an extensive section
about Casals' resistance to Franco, and his pacifism in general.  So does
the _Joys and Sorrows_ book about Casals.

>Was he a pacifist, do you think, himself -- is it a coincidence
>that he put in both documentaries these anti-war viewpoints?

Yes, I think GG was a pacifist.  More examples: his estate went toward the
humane treatment of animals.  "The Quiet in the Land" from the Solitude
Trilogy has a pacifism section.  The film "Slaughterhouse-Five" that GG
scored is anti-war, and his musical choices for the war scenes are
"appropriately ironic" as described in one of his letters.

Speaking of films with disjunct narrative, would GG have liked "The English
Patient"?

Anybody seen the other GG-scored film, "The Wars," released after GG's
death?  What's it like?

http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0069280
http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0084889

- Brad Lehman, bpl@umich.edu