[f_minor] Andrew Kazdin passes away at 77

[Gess, Richard J]

I was saddened to hear of Andrew Kazdin's death via this list. I started rereading his GG memoir today (it's nice to work in a big college library where most any book that anyone mentions is just a short elevator ride away) and was immediately struck by (a) how witty and engaging a writer he was, and (b) how his unvarnished portrait of Gould is done from fascination and admiration, not out of a desire to wreak revenge for past slights--though in his accounting, he and many others were eventually slighted, or worse, by GG. He portrays a very complicated man with scrupulous honesty, but his necessary recounting of Gould's human shortcomings shows him as a character in the general human comedy, not as a cliche star-with-evil-dark-side. The book is infused with Gould's loopy joy and Kazdin's sense of humor about Gould, the strange and irresistible maestro. It's a lasting memorial to them both.

Besides all that, Kazdin's place in the world enabled him to refer to Stokowski as "Stoky"--just another workplace eccentric. His sidebars about some of GG's fellow travelers at Columbia Records are a tasty bonus. And his descriptions of the analog recording process evoke an era that now seems romantically distant.

Richard
________________________________________
From: f_minor-bounces at glenngould.org [f_minor-bounces at glenngould.org] on behalf of Marius Coomans [mh at coomans.com]
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 7:43 PM
To: Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
Subject: Re: [f_minor] Andrew Kazdin passes away at 77

Wonderful to see the short clip of AK in that video.
I for one enjoyed his book very much, It was good to get his perspective of the relationship.

Rest Easy Andrew

Marius Coomans

On 3 December 2011 09:50, maryellen jensen <maryellenjensen28 at hotmail.com<mailto:maryellenjensen28 at hotmail.com>> wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A9VKDF3DvA&feature=related

Kazdin comes in briefly at about 04:29

Andrew Kazdin.
15 years Gould's producer at Columbia and that's just
a part of this consummate professional's career.
Gouldians, read (reread) what he wrote with an open mind.
There's not a lot of that about lately. Ever?

Mary



From: pzumst at bluewin.ch<mailto:pzumst at bluewin.ch>
To: f_minor at glenngould.org<mailto:f_minor at glenngould.org>
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2011 20:07:37 +0100
Subject: [f_minor] Andrew Kazdin passes away at 77


Dear all

Thanks to Stefy for letting me /us know of some sad news:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/arts/music/andrew-kazdin-classical-record-producer-dies-at-77.html

De mortuis nil nisi bonum. We should remember Kazdin for what he did and not for what he wrote later.

Pat









--
Marius Coomans
Active Web Communications
POBox 521
Blaxland NSW 2774
P:(02) 47394981
M: (0411) 248617
@mariushendrik

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