[f_minor] I wonder what happened to...

[Anita Monroe]

Dear DJWP, I hope that series is reissued on DVD.  Please let us know if
that happens. It sounds like it is something truly worth hearing.
The issue of the worth of Mozart is something that is always going to ebb
and flow with different generations.  My own teacher who is considerable
older than most performing musicians thinks that Mozart writes primarily
immature music, a playful sort of thing for the
entertainment of the social elite of the day.  There are only a few pieces
that he takes seriously.

As far as GG and other pianists are concerned, there are many issues as
well.  When he was starting his career, his type of playing was not in the
mainstream.  Horowitz's style was considered the epitome of grace and
power.  The Russian style of playing was at its peak and GG was thought of
as a throwback, nothing to take seriously. There was even a touch of envy
(in my opinion) because his records sold so well AND he was lionized in
RUSSIA, of all places when he was still in his 20's.

When his records started coming out, I was a very young person, and I found
his playing fascinating.  Like most young pianists, Bach was part of my
training, and it was so exciting to hear that music played with such a
fresh approach.  I have given CD's of GG to many friends and have been
interested in their reactions.  Several just thanked me but really didn't
like it.  The ones that did were techie people, a few were hermits who live
full-time in RV's., and a few piano students felt about him the same way
that I did at their age.  On and on it goes.

Best,
Anita
RubatoATM at gmail.com

On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 9:35 AM, DJ Were-Panda <vnvlain at gmail.com> wrote:

> It's not just GG products that seems to be neglected in terms of medium
> update/reprint.  I'm not sure if this corporate decision is based on the
> company's poor foresight or just that the public demand is not there.  Even
> as a music major, GG is not a popular name amongst pianists (by "not
> popular" I mean that a lot of my classmates only of heard of him in
> passing, but not actually researched/listened to his albums...GG was not
> exactly a great example of what a public performing pianist should be, and
> nowadays even with the advancement of musical media, it is difficult to
> make a living without live gigs).
>
> A quick tangent: I was very fond of an educational series called
> Concerto!, hosted by Dudley Moore and it features various artists
> performing with the London Symphony Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas.
>
> The series had a profound influence on me during my high school years, and
> I remember constantly checking the VHS tapes out from the library.
> Eventually after much research on the internet, I was able to order the
> complete set myself.
>
> Unfortunately magnetic tapes do not fare well in heat and humidity (such
> is the life of a Floridian), all the tapes were degraded to the point of
> being unwatchable after a period of time.  I've been searching for the DVD
> version of the said series.  It's been several years and the search is not
> successful. There does not seem to be any plans to transfer the series to
> DVD/Blu-Ray/streaming.
>  I've written to the publishing company (which was eventually purchased
> by BMG) a few times about reviving the Concerto! series into digital
> format, but so far no response.
>
> I'm still optimistic though, and hope very much that this is a temporary
> trend.  I remember in the late 90s there was a revival of re-releasing some
> of GG's recordings.  Perhaps we'll have another GG renaissance in the near
> future.
>
> Cheers, DJWP
>
>
>
>
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