GG re: Ketchup and Fisch-gau

[Kate Clunies-Ross <katecluniesross@hotmail.com>]

Martin Smith wrote at the end of his posting:
> I ought to have a question for the list here (Anne-M would be pleased I
> think. I don't really, it's just an observation - but I'll have a go:
> Could Gould have made the music he did living like Dieskau, and could the
> reverse have taken place?

Can I hazard a guess and suggest: No he couldn't? Not that the actual
lifestyle itself is important; but he lived the way he did because that was
the nature of the man. And the music he made came from the nature of the man
too.
I dont believe you can separate the man from his art (or that you should
even try.) Since joining the F_Minor list I have been told that some people
believe that while its OK to discuss his music, we shouldnt really talk
about the man himself. Well; sorry, folks, but I personally think that's
mistaken. All art involves communication, and surely what the artist needs
to communicate is something of his own nature, something that is of supreme
importance to himself. With music there is of course an additional
complication: somebody has to interpret for us lesser mortals what it is
that the composer was trying to say. Musical notation is not "perfect" in
that the composer can indicate, precisely in every detail, what it was he
'heard' in his own mind as he wrote. If it was perfect in this way, then
every interpreter would perforce play the piece identically, and that would
be pretty boring!
GG himself, when challenged about some of his more ...shall I say,
"unorthodox'... interpretations, commented that there would be little point
in making a recording that was just the same as someone else's efforts!
So if his lifestyle was changed, it could only be because he himself was
different. And I think, so would the music be different. Of course, you
could query whether it would be even better  -  though I find that difficult
to imagine!
I think his lifestyle was fine. Mind you, I may just be biased, as I live on
my own in a very cluttered flat, with CDs and books all over the floor....!

Kate.

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