Glenn Gould (1932-1982). A life and
Variations. Few
performing artists of this century have been the focus of as much admiration,
speculation and criticism as the pianist Glenn Gould. He was a prodigy,
performing concerti with major orchestras before his fifteenth birthday. He was as eccentric, singing along at his own recitals, often appearing in midsummer clad in a woollen topcoat, mittens and scarf. He was a brilliant teacher, author, lecturer and documentary maker; few have been such magnificent proselytisers for the glories of music. But what truly captured the public’s imagination about Glenn Gould was not his fame; it was his abrupt retreat from that fame. Nine years after his 1955 recording of Bach’s Goldberg
variations propelled him to unequalled heights of critical and popular acclaim, Gould decided never to play the piano before a live audience again. While he continued to produce a series of extraordinary recordings until his untimely death from a stroke at the age of fifty in 1982, Gould’s fears, contempt for concert halls and obsessive fascination with the possibilities of recording technology prevented him from ever performing in public again. This book is an intimate portrait of an isolated, lonely genius who behaved in a manner some might consider mad. Drawing on countless interviews and with access to never-before-available letters and documents at the Gould Archives in Ottawa, Otto Friedrich has produced the definite biography of a brilliant and troubled soul.