An article of interest?

[Ron Davis <rdavis@chass.utoronto.ca>]

Fellow f-minorians:

Herewith for your interest is an article on the Glenn Gould Prize to Toru
Takemitsu, by columnist Ellie Tesher from the September 25, 1996 Toronto
Star, published in its Web edition <http://www.thestar.com/>.

Which leads me to rant yet again on this list about the state of the GG legacy.

Yes, yes, yes: Toru Takemitsu was indeed a great composer. But what does
this have to do with Glenn Gould? This is a romaticized GG. This is a GG
who, because he is a big name, is celebrated by celebrating other big names
by those who are impressed by big names. Do you think celebrating big names
was a part of GG's art? I don't. 

Ellie Tesher, who undoubtedly knows no better and means well, is impressed.
And thus GG's name is kept before the public. Would it were kept there by
the intelligent rerelease of his recordings, or by the intelligent release
of his radio material. Ah, but Sony (the biggest of names) does not truck in
intelligence...

Well, at least Tan Dun (not a big name, so far as I know) is getting
something out of this.

A final note: for me, Stephen Posen betokens the utter dunderheadedness
surrounding the management of GG's artistic legacy. His opposition to the
release of the Jock Carroll book was as culturally constipated as it was
legally agressive. And in an interview he gave to James Strecker (published
in the _Bulletin of the International Glenn Gould Society_, vol. 8, nos
1&2, March/October 1991, pp.112-114) he displays not only a gross ignorance
about GG's art, but tops it off with a disgustingly racist, elitist story
implying surprise that somehow a "big robust fellow who looked like a
football player and was a Jamaican black" might appreciate GG's music. As if...

Ecchh.

If GG returned to Earth today, would he not meet a fate similar to Christ in
the myth of the Grand Inquisitor? 

Tim Page to the rescue, Tim Page to the rescue?

Ron

Here's the article:

>Keeping Glenn Gould's gift alive 
>
>WHEN LEGENDARY Canadian musician Glenn Gould died suddenly at age 50 of a
massive
>stroke in 1982, he left a world bereft of his genius but not of his music
and legacy.
>
>Beyond being a brilliant pianist and interpreter of music, he was an
outstanding communicator
>who spent much of his career recording and broadcasting, to the benefit of
a world audience for
>generations to come.
>
>His gift is kept alive by the Glenn Gould Foundation, notably through its
>prestigious prize awarded every third year by an international jury to honor
>someone who has made an exceptional contribution to the communication of
>music through modern technology.
>
>``That's what Glenn Gould became best known for after he stopped
>performing in concerts,'' said his former lawyer Stephen Posen, now
>executor of the late musician's estate. 
>
>``He was a soaring genius. But he was also very warm and courteous,
>sensitive and a lot of fun with a cerebral sense of humor.''
>
>Gould's longtime friend, Victor Tovell, who produced some of Gould's radio
and television
>broadcasts, counters the image of Gould as a recluse. He had a close circle
of friends but let
>others think he was an isolate so he could focus on his work.
>
>``He was an explorer of ideas, tremendously hard-working and busy, with a
great sense of
>vitality. He wrote a lot and reflected a lot on what was happening to the
world of sound.''
>
>He's widely regarded as the pre-eminent pianist of this century - famous
for his unique
>interpretations, in particular of Bach through his acclaimed ``Goldberg
Variations.''
>
>The winner of the 1996 International Glenn Gould Prize is a poignant choice:
>
>It will be awarded posthumously tonight at a special concert at the Glenn
Gould Studio to Toru
>Takemitsu, the innovative Japanese composer, teacher and author who died at
66 last February
>after a long battle with cancer.
>
>The composer's wife, Asaka, and their daughter Maki will accept the $50,000
prize.
>
>Known for his extensive compositions for symphony orchestras, choirs,
chamber ensembles,
>traditional Japanese orchestras and cinema, Takemitsu designed the Space
Theatre for the
>1970 World's Fair in Osaka.
>
>And he composed soundtracks for some 91 movies including Hollywood's The
Rising Sun and
>the Japanese classic epic Ran.
>
>What's astonishing about his 45-year career is that he was self-taught and
heard no western
>music until his late teens, yet he created new bridges between east and west.
>
>Says famed Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Seiji Ozawa of
Takemitsu: ``Whether
>he is drawing upon traditional Japanese instruments or writing contemporary
film music, there is
>always a unique beauty, clarity and dream-like quality to everything he
touched.''
>
>In an obituary, Ozawa wrote thanking Takemitsu for ``introducing the music
of the spirit of the
>Japanese people to the world.'' An associated prize reflects Gould's legacy
for future
>generations.
>
>Chinese composer Tan Dun, 39, had been chosen by Takemitsu to receive the
$10,000 City of
>Toronto-Glenn Gould International Protege Prize in music and communication
tonight. The
>choice was based on Tan's embodiment of the prize requirements: ``Promise
of the exceptional
>creativity, vision, artistry or scholarship which one associates with the
young Glenn Gould.''
>
>Tan, who will conduct tonight's concert, told me that his mentor,
Takemitsu, had influenced him
>most by his bringing together of eastern and western music - ``blended into
one color'' - in his
>composing, and through the cultural exchange of music.
>
>Tan spent two years in China planting rice during the Cultural Revolution,
before being selected
>to study music in Beijing. He moved to New York in 1986 to complete his
doctorate at Columbia
>University.
>
>He often collaborates on experimental projects, conducts and performs as a
soloist in his own
>works and creates multi-media productions. One of very few composers signed
by a record
>company, he has recently been taken on by Sony Classical, the label most
associated with
>Gould.
>
>He has described Takemitsu and Gould as ``two of the greatest musicians of
the 20th century.''
>They both had, he said, ``a legendary ability to communicate the voices of
heaven, earth and
>humanity.''
>
>If, as Gould once said, ``the purpose of art is the lifelong construction
of a state of wonder,'' then
>Takemitsu and Tan clearly follow in his path.
>
>     Contents copyright © 1996, The Toronto Star.

ronald d. davis | barrister and solicitor
54 brunswick avenue | toronto | ontario | canada m5s 2l7
Vox: (416) 929-2324 | Fax: (416) 929-1087
e-mail: rdavis@chass.utoronto.ca