GG on Organ/Plus Some Stuff

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@sff.net>]

From: Elmer Elevator <bobmer@JAVANET.COM>

> I have the Gould organ LP. Does anyone know what Gould's aesthetic and
> technical feelings for the organ were? He certainly doesn't sound as if
he
> dislikes it.

It has been called anti-organistic organ music... There are some
interesting statements in a review by John Stone
here:http://www.jsbach.org/artglenn.html
(Excerpt: "He chooses to play the organ without legato which may upset some
listeners (it is the most "anti-organist" organ playing around, but I find
it well-suited for the fugues-- one can better hear the separate voices.")

I think Glenn Gould did say somewhere (help! where?!) that learning the
organ was very important to his technique. If he didn't say that, then he
should have. :-> I'm sure some musical experts have postulated this, saying
that learning the organ helped to shape his understanding of counterpoint.
However, he definitely avoided the ornamentation usually considered a part
of organ playing.

While I was "doing my research" (looking up stuff in Google), I found an
article on GG from Newsweek:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/970407/7new.htm

Interesting quote: "The recordings point up the gulf between Helfgott, whom
Washington Post critic Tim Page called "a disturbed man who can barely play
the piano," and Gould, a performer who was eccentric yet gifted." Too bad
the article is next to a graphic of Newsweek's "Lost Souls" cover.

------
Anne M. Marble
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