<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div>fred, you're absolutely right. the brahms speeds seem quite normal nowadays. maybe back then they were not considered so. , although i don't remember it. i mean. the serkin was out then and he's not that much faster, just a little more pompous. gould does have a way , though, of breathing new life into worn-out chestnuts. too bad about toronto. nice city. </div><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><br><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> "Houpt, Fred" <fred.houpt@rbc.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
<f_minor@glenngould.org><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tue, June 29, 2010 4:13:57 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [f_minor] Bravo Fortissimo Howler<br></font><br>
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<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3">What a funny thing for Gould to say. I was recently
listening to his infamous Brahms Piano Concerto with Bernstein and the NY
Phil....this is on You Tube (bless them for all the goodies uploaded)....and you
know I found myself not finding the interpretation of the first movement as
outrageous and as "teetering" on the edge of sanity as many felt when they first
heard it. The thing with Gould's extreme interpretations is that he is almost
shouting at us like a Zen Roshi to wake up and listen to a very familiar piece
in a totally fresh and unique way. Gould used extremism to make those
points, much to many people's dismay. I don't know...as I age I am not as
put off by the exaggerated mannerisms....and I am more apt to try to grasp what
his enormously fertile intellect is endeavoring to uncover, even if by grossly
overt means. </font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3">Finally for now, I also put on GG on Y.T. playing a few
extracts of the Art of the Fugue by Bach and you see that this was late in his
career....and what fascinated me more than the actual playing which was
ethereal, was the (again) extreme hand gestures as he conducts one hand over the
other which was playing. It seems on the surface level to be a bit
teetering towards spasmodic almost epileptic body motions but then he just as
quickly subsides when adding the second hand, not losing one single watt of
energetic motion. It's mesmerizing to watch as it is so calming to listen
to.......</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3">I'll be taking a powder from the office
soon....</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3">Cheers from bombed out downtown Toronto (don't even ask
what last week was like)</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="220430520-29062010"><font face="Arial" color="#0000ff" size="3">Fred Houpt</font></span></div><br>
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<hr tabindex="-1">
<font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b> f_minor-bounces@glenngould.org
[mailto:f_minor-bounces@glenngould.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>maryellen
jensen<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, June 29, 2010 4:00 PM<br><b>To:</b>
f_minor@glenngould.org<br><b>Subject:</b> [f_minor] Bravo Fortissimo
Howler<br></font><br></div>
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<font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font><br><b><font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" size="4">"I take a powder right after a concert because I
have this kook contingent who follow me from place to place, and some of them
are really teetering on the balance." <br>- Glenn
Gould</font></b><br><br> <font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"> "Take a powder" is old slang for leave quickly,
disappear, get away fast. </font><font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"><br></font><font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"><br> I recently sent the following to another
member of this List:<br></font><font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"> Bazzana (Wondrous Strange) quotes Gould's
unsent 'personal ad' on pages 321, 322, "Wanted: Friendly, companionably
reclusive, alcoholically abstemious, tirelessly talkative, ..." etc etc which
ends with the address <u>"Avalon Peninsula, Nfld."</u> BUT in Mesaros' book the
same 'personal ad' is quoted on pages 341,342 with the address: <u>"Anaton
Penisslow Nfld." </u>Can you believe that? I'm afraid that the Freudian Dr.
Mesaros made an erroneous Big Penis out of a geographical feature and <u>Gould's
notoriously tricky handwriting:
</u><i><b><br> </b></i><b>
From Avalon Peninsula to Anaton Penisslow! </b><i><b><br></b></i>More than most
I love anagrams, wordplay, double-entendre, homophones,<br>The London Daily
Telegraph cryptic crossword and I can assure you that<br>Mesaros is a clumsy
wordsmith at best - howlers ahoy matey.<br> Mesaros really needed a
proofreader and a fact checker. Another case in point is an entry in a Gould
'notebook' quoted on pages 349,350,351 in Bazzana and pages 340,341 in Mesaros.
Mesaros states that the text concerned Gould's feelings for Cornelia Foss
(although her name never appears) BUT Bazzana states that the text is from a
Gould 'notebook' dated <b>1980</b>. Bazzana doesn't use conjecture, he states a
fact, a date and doesn't presume to know who Gould was scribbling about. Sure -
let's talk about Mesaros' book, by all
means.<br>Mary<br><br> <br><br></font><font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"><br></font><font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font><font style="FONT-SIZE:16pt;" face="Times New Roman" size="4"><br></font> <br>
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