[f_minor] Gould Meets Haydn / Streisand

[James Wright]

I'm guessing that few list-members are fans of her voice, but GG's remarks on Streisand seem less tongue-in-cheek than his comments on Petula Clark, for example.  Something about the variety of her interpretations, her humour, and her capacity to produce a variety of vocal characters and colours clearly appealed to him and struck him as uniquely authentic, in their own way.  I cannot agree that Gould's comments on pop culture are without value, nor that Streisand's thoughts about Gould would have been without significance.  I think GG's musings on these topics, and his various forays into pop culture, are quite relevant to any understanding of his worldview and aesthetic outlook.  If that worldview and aesthetic had been more tightly defined, as it is for many classical pianists, I'm not sure that we would be discussing him at all 25 years after his death.

 

J.


James K. Wright, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor &
Supervisor of Performance Studies
School for Studies in Art & Culture: Music
A917 Loeb Building, Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada  K1S 5B6
Email: James_Wright at carleton.ca
Telephone : (613) 520-2600 (ext. 3734)
Fax : (613) 520-3905
 



Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:33:17 -0700
From: mmacelletti at sbcglobal.net
To: f_minor at glenngould.org; gmadoodat at hotmail.com
Subject: Re: [f_minor] Gould Meets Haydn / Streisand





frankly, what streisand has to say about gg is of utterly no significance. and what he could have possibly seen in her voice, which is supposedly lacking in the really great singers, only God knows. 




From: James Wright <gzarlino at hotmail.com>
To: f_minor list <f_minor at glenngould.org>
Sent: Sun, July 18, 2010 7:28:25 AM
Subject: Re: [f_minor] Gould Meets Haydn / Streisand



The question was not when and where GG wrote about Streisand (the High Fidelity piece is well known), but rather when and where Streisand commented on Gould, in response.

James K. Wright, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor &
Supervisor of Performance Studies
School for Studies in Art & Culture: Music
A917 Loeb Building, Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada  K1S 5B6
Email: James_Wright at carleton.ca
Telephone : (613) 520-2600 (ext. 3734)
Fax : (613) 520-3905
 




From: maryellenjensen28 at hotmail.com
To: f_minor at glenngould.org
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:47:43 +0200
Subject: [f_minor] Gould Meets Haydn / Streisand




Oh what a relief that someone else gives a flying ----  about Gould's Haydn. I have already begged anyone here who can get their hands on a copy of "Gould's Remarkable Haydn Series" Piano Quarterly Vol. 31 no. 121 Winter 1982-83 by Joseph Banowetz to please send me a photocopy. I'll pay postage...I'll send you a free cd of whatever you want (within reason) in return. No, that's going too far. I offer a free cd of Gerard Lesne and Ensemble Il Seminario musicale recorded at Basilique Saint-Hippolyte, Thonon-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France, April 1988 "Musique Sacree pour Contralto, Cordes et Basse Continue" in fair trade for a copy of the Joseph Banowetz article. You'll just have to twig the composer and the compositions. 

 People crow and crow ('cause it's facile?) that Gould rerecorded The Goldberg Variations ... well hang on "just a doggone minute" (Gouldian speak); Gould revisited Haydn first with his "slowhand" technique and I'm so glad that he did. What gorgeous play he has to offer; this is really a sublime Gould who feels at home with the composer. Haydn had all the moves that Gould could respect and bounce off of. It sort of drives me crazy with jealousy. I have to laugh out loud in pleasure and utter ... what is it exactly? Agreement? Amusement? Fulfillment.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfu5VDjRKmA&NR=1

  As for what Gould had in mind for "Barbra", he laid his cards on the table: from High Fidelity Magazine May 1976 "Streisand As Schwarzkopf" by Glenn Gould:

  http://barbra-archives.com/bjs_library/70s/high_fidelity_1976.html

This is the second time I have submitted the Gould-Streisand article to F Minor.

Mary Jensen 

 



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