by Robert Charles Alexander
The German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer said: ...a genius is a person in whom intellect predominates over will much more than for the average person, making them relatively aloof from earthly cares and concerns; they are so fixed on their art, that they neglect the business of life.
Michael Gerzon was one of those lucky few who were able to change the world. Our concept of normality was anathema to Michael; his genius was a burden that he never quite learned to control, much less take for granted. The relative lack of competence of the artist and the thinker, for practical pursuits, was no mere stereotype: it is cause and effect: normality is a state of mind, and, moreover, body, which he was never privileged to attain.
Pained throughout his life with a series of debilitating medical illnesses, an inevitable yet stifled self-criticism borne out of a tortured childhood often manifested itself in emotional shyness and withdrawal.
Like so many geniuses that had gone before him, his brilliance was granted for just a short while; and inevitably he paid for it with a very high price.
Dead at the age of just fifty, Michael Gerzon's light burned half as long, but twice as bright. I had my first book published the biography of Alan Dower Blumlein. The name Michael Gerzon had kept cropping up during my research. Here was somebody, it seemed, who had followed in the footsteps of Blumlein, and then taken audio engineering to yet new heights.
In August 1999, I vowed to look more closely into the Michael Gerzon story... like Blumlein, perhaps there was another book that needed to be written? Michael Gerzon was a fragile, yet complex personality with many facets to his character, some of which surprised those who knew and loved him well. He had a deep seated capacity for friendship and his generosity with his time and talent was legendary. He was a gentleman from the old school , quiet and courteous, yet he could be painfully shy, often withdrawn, sullen and even moody.
Despite this, he had a driving passion for the improvement of our appreciation for sound, and this in turn led him to continually strive to achieve a higher fidelity in everything he did. It seems however, there is always some form of anguish accompanying the soul of such genius. In spite of his crippling illnesses, which often rendered him bed-ridden and unable to work for months at a time, Michael never complained.
Instead, he learned to express his torment, torture and inner self only through his poetry. These private works of prose could vary in content from tender, subtle and loving, to plain forthright, violent and even vulgar! He was often untidy, absent minded, dirty, unwashed and even lazy (especially where everyday minor activities were concerned), but these were just by-products of his resolve to work for days at a time, quite literally forgetting to eat or sleep.
Michael thought nothing of talking for eight hours or more on the telephone if a subject interested him, yet he could barely remember an appointment the next day even if it was made for him, and rarely attended family reunions, or even pay every day utility bills.
Having been privileged to explore his life through the process of writing this book, I now understand why his memory is held in such high regard by all those who knew him so much better than I did.
The world, it seems, is destined to be illuminated from the light of such men; and then, just when that light burns at its brightest, the genius is taken away. Michael Gerzon was one such man.
This is his story.
Publisher: DMP (November 5, 2008)
Pages: 534 pages
Illustrations: 32 pages (B&W)
Language: English
Type: Biography
ISBN-10: 0956016006
ISBN-13: 978-0-9560160-0-3
Robert Charles Alexander is an author, lawyer, civil and commercial mediator, and a legal and political consultant.
Born in Hampstead, London England in June 1964, he was educated in the Rudolf Steiner education system where he trained in classical music reading, composition, and arrangement. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and a Master’s Degree in International Law from University of Lincoln, and is currently studying for his Ph.D. in Law at Brunel University London.
He most recently worked as a political correspondent for the BBC.
His first book, ‘The Inventor of Stereo – The Life & Works of Alan Dower Blumlein’, was published in August 1999, to worldwide acclaim. It has since been dramatised as a radio programme for BBC Radio 4 broadcast in August 2008, and more recently turned into a major new movie for Universal Pictures Films (due for release in 2026).
His second book, ‘The Misner Factor – The Official History of SAE Institute’, tells the rags to riches story of founder Tom Misner, and was published in July 2003.
His third book, ‘Why We Climb – The Harsh Reality of Modern Expedition Mountaineering’, was co-written with world-renowned American mountaineer Dan Mazur, and documents their attempt to climb Mount Everest in the spring of 2004; it was published in October 2006.
His fourth book, ‘Michael Gerzon – Beyond Psychoacoustics’, tells the complicated story of multi-channel audio reproduction, and follows on directly from his first book; it was published in November 2008.
His fifth book, ‘Newport Arch, Lincoln: a pictorial history, documents two thousand years of one of the City of Lincoln’s iconic Roman monuments; it was published in February 2022.
His sixth and seventh books, ‘The Misner Legacy’ Volume One and Volume Two, directly continue his long-time association with billionaire, Tom Misner.
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