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Re: GG on the Philips Great Pianists series



Thanks for the welcome.
 
> I forget where it's at in the Glenn Gould reader, but I think somewhere
> in there he makes that claim as well.  It's hard for me to take him
> seriously though, on this matter and I'd imagine Schoenberg and Bach
> would come ahead of Gibbons on his favorites list.
 
This is what Bruno Monsaingeon asks him and GG explains by saying that from a technical perspective of course Bach would be a favorite composer.  Gibbons is more from a spiritual point of view.  I couldn't help laughing though.  Not because it's a ridiculous choice or anything like that but because it seems to fit so much with his special character to say something like that.
 
> Anything else you'd like to talk about on the Alchemist DVD? I was
> particularly impressed with seeing Gould working in the studio.
 
Yeah, I couldn't help but think how much more effort they had to go through to do things that are so much simpler on computers now.  Apart from the production side it was interesting to see his on-the-spot trial of different interpretations of the one piece.
 
While GG was playing Gibbons my 4 year old daughter asked why he closed his eyes and shook his head while he played.  I tried to explain ecstasy as best I could but she answered it herself later when she was bopping away to Bach. 
 
For me the best part of the Alchemist DVD is the Gibbons work and Bach's Partita No 6.  I had heard Gibbon's Lord of Salisbury Pavan before on the Philips Great Pianists series but never really took a great deal of notice.  But when you see someone with eyes closed and head shaking you have to stop and listen to what they are experiencing.  When I first heard this piece on the DVD it moved me.  I'm not sure why but maybe it's the way he is able to communicate something so beautifully that I had previously not noticed.
 
As a newbie to the list I hope I'm not ranting with stuff you've all heard before.
 
Jon
 
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 10:36 PM
Subject: Re: GG on the Philips Great Pianists series

Hi Jon, and welcome to the list. 
 
I forget where it's at in the Glenn Gould reader, but I think somewhere in there he makes that claim as well.  It's hard for me to take him seriously though, on this matter and I'd imagine Schoenberg and Bach would come ahead of Gibbons on his favorites list.
 
Anything else you'd like to talk about on the Alchemist DVD? I was particularly impressed with seeing Gould working in the studio. Even if the scene was entirely made for the camera I still liked seeing Gould as he might be in the studio.
 
Jim
 
PS: I wasn't very impressed that the new three disc set from culture.  Anyone else seen these?  I think the other films on Gould are better.  This have their good moments, but I'd rank the other films on Gould as better than these.
 
 
 

Hello,
 
This is my first post to this list so hello all.
 
> I think I read once that GG was especially pleased with the English music.
 
He actually says on The Alchemist DVD that Orlando Gibbons is his favorite composer!
 
Jon