iSound

Toccata-grazia
In his article Counterfeiting, imitation and creative process, Glenn Gould had been one of the first to show - and with what brilliance - that by voluntarily submitting to judgmental criteria external to the work of art itself, notably historically, our appreciation of the work consequently became distorted. If one amused oneself by allotting various fictitious datings to an improvisation in the style of Haydn realized by the great Canadian pianist, our appreciation of this creation would vary all in all according to the date suggested, even though the improvisation itself would remain rigorously identical! Supposing that it is in perfect conformity with the stylistic criteria suitable for Haydn, it would be perfectly possible to persuade the listener to allot it to him and to attach the corresponding artistic value to it. Better still: by supposing it earlier than the time of Haydn, one would even see oneself allotting “prophetic qualities”. On the contrary, i...