'Stand firm against sin…or something'

I'm a huge fan of Glenn Gould, have been for years. The way he used himself, his own humanity, as an experiment to test the depths of humanity in general I find quite fascinating, inspiring even. His endless interviews with himself were his attempt to get to the bottom of his own feelings without having to satisfy some other consciousness other than his own. Some find him off-putting to say the least, to be a blowhard or a buffoon and I can dig that. But the dude was so genuinely into this stuff to the point of losing himself, so if he comes off weird or pompous I'd say that's a function of his utter lack of interest in anything but music. That's fine with me.

Athletes that are ripped on by talk radio, for example, are often players with fractious relationships with the media, thus they become targets for public ridicule; but what do I give a shit if Albert Belle or Jeff George are chummy with the CNN Sports guys or Sports Illustrated or ESPN? Is that their job to suck up to the media? And how is any of that any of my business? And, likewise, what do I give a shit if the snooty arts press of the 1960s thought Gould off-putting? Why would I ever choose old timey bluenoses (or obnoxious talk radio types with no one but themselves to serve) instead of the artists themselves?

Now, the criticism of Gould from within the class of musicians is a separate consideration. But even here I think the prejudice against his 'doctored' recordings doesn't accept that anything other than live performance is valid--they say he wasn't keepin' it real! To the average classical musician, performance is paramount, recording is an insufferable business obligation. Well, Gould wasn't interested in performing, it wasn't the essence of the music on display but the performer himself on display. He was into the music more than any punk rock asshole I ever met. (Incidentally I don't buy for one second that he withdrew due to performance anxiety. Please! This guy performed all the time for TV, for radio, answering questions, explaining music to kids, etc. This guy was no wallflower, he just had other things on his mind. I saw him comment once that watching others perform was more nerve-racking to him than performing himself, he was more nervous for others than for himself) It's simply a matter of whether you can accept that recording is as viable as performance. As someone who listens to more music on my stereo than in person, I accept that recording is a perfectly reasonable pursuit for a musician.

Glenn Gould -- Bach's Cantata #54 ('Widerstehe doch der Sunde')