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What a pity that Fogelsong got side-tracked from the music this time 'round by: 1.Concert Dropout and 2. his chance to postulate Schenkerian theory vis a vis Gould's 'vocal obbligato'. Fair enough, after all it's his column and furthermore who can deny that those two matters are intrinsic to any consideration of Gould's career? "...what recording denies us in spontaneity, it gives us in reliable persistence." I'm with you Singh (I happen to share your prejudice); while "reliable persistence" is not, a priori, pejorative, it somehow lends itself as such. It comes off as pointed, as though alluding to some ulterior implication dismissive in nature. Just a clumsy, unfortunate turn of phrase? Let's amend it: "..what recording denies us in contingency, it gives us in integrity."; "..what concerts provide us in spectacle, they deny us in reliable audition."; "..what recording denies us in distractions, it provides us in ultimate perceptions." I respectfully invite each member of the List so inclined to submit their own amendment(s) which I shall forward to Mr. Fogelsong. Just for the record: I do hereby state that I have NEVER attended a concert in the hope of witnessing a debacle for ANY performer. Frankly speaking the thought has never entered my mind and the first time I read Gould's accusations the word 'paranoiac' came out of my mouth, it has since been tempered to "stage fright". Mr. Fogelsong has gone far beyond anyone else I've yet to come across in print on the subject of GG's singing. How he arrives at an application of Schenkerian theory is beyond me as there simply isn't enough evidence left after all of the filtering, alas? In the film "On and Off The Record" one gets an idea of the volume of his voice and while I agree with Fred Houpt in spirit blimey something had to be done for the recordings and I'm glad it was. That said, far too much is made of it and I reckon Fogelsong just likes the hat. By the way Fred, I don't know what you do to make a living but the world would be a better place if you were published 'On Music' regularly. Such eloquence. I hope you've heard it said already. Die Mensch Maschine, or, "Oh that horrible Zenph thing." Harsh? I don't think so. Bill Larsen said it all. "After all, great performers attend very carefully to the sound of their tone or to the texture of their sound.", Ferrara from Angilette's book. What is that age old ad line? Accept No Substitutes! Who exactly is Zenph aiming at with that 'thing'? I've got a clue it's the house music crowd: a little Grace Jones, Gould and Grand Master Flash in da mix? A noble effort? A noble effort is the effort, time and money to get all the concerned legal parties to collaborate on a complete, coherent and dignified archival collection of Gould's audio/visual programming. All of it from all the sources while there are still such people alive who worked with Gould during his life to consult with. Just tell me please how a robot piano following a producer's cues copying a repudiated (and re-recorded) recording stacks up against a film of Glenn Gould and Leonard Rose playing Beethoven's Sonata no.3 for cello and piano? I'll tell you: Gould and Rose are GIANT, the 8th Wonder of the World and Zenph is just boys with toys. All their techno glad-handing and high-fives and Gould-lite isn't worth a toss. What's next? A Gould dress-up doll with magnetic coats, scarves, gloves and hats and, for the first 1,000 sold, tiny hotel keys and miniature prescription bottles and a bonus Zenph Goldberg cd? What a world, oh what a world, Mary Jensen Invite your mail contacts to join your friends list with Windows Live Spaces. It's easy! Try it! |