[f_minor] Not Gould but...

[Danielle Law-Jackson]

a really wonderful post.  Many thanks

Amicalement,

Danielle

Danielle Law-Jackson
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021 7624267
danielle7 at webmail.co.za
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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Houpt, Fred 
  To: Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. 
  Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 4:28 PM
  Subject: Re: [f_minor] Not Gould but...


  Morning all.  I listened to one of the Beethoven lectures over the weekend, at home.  It was delicious and wonderful.  

      Last night I dusted off my DVD copy of "Hereafter", which I had not seen in a few years.  Of course I was overwhelmed with great emotion and found myself in tears at the incredible beauty of the music making, laughing at his sense of humor and in awe of his intellect, which I think is still not properly appreciated by his fellow artists.  I say this because the die-hards have not fallen out of love or respect.  He deserves more recognition from other artists, giving Gould the credit due, acknowledging that his artistic approach, filled with extremes as they were, all were entirely underwritten by a deeply passionate desire to know the inner realms of the musical thoughts.  I do not know that GG was the first philosophical musical prodigy, but for me he is the most important.

  Another impression I get from the documentary is that GG often achieved levels of altered states of consciousness and from these highly charged and ecstatic states he was able to see the music as if for the first time; even more, his insights totally informed the manner in which he approached interpretation.  The section where he explains the "why" of his infamous Mozart sonata approach I found myself finally understanding a bit more, why his interpretation was acceptable within the strict agenda that his approach had set for itself.  His objective was to turn the overly familiar sonata inside out and deeply examine the architecture of the theme as it evolves through exposition.  He is not the only one to search for these types of insights and he is often remembered as having too much recourse to gross exaggeration in order to make his points. However, once one has finally grasped some of the insights that his performances afford us, we are better off and our artistic appreciation is deeper.  What can possibly be found in such a journey?  That is one reason I can never be away from listening to GG.  There is so much there to contemplate and be enlightened by.

  cheers,

  Fred Houpt
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