Listen to Handel: Suites for Harpsichord - Bach: Selections from the Well Tempered Clavier, Book II by Glenn Gould on Apple Music. The Glenn Gould Foundation was established in Toronto in 1983 to honour Gould and to keep alive his memory and life's work. Bach: Preludes, Fugues and Fughettas - Expanded Edition. [18], Gould developed a technique that enabled him to choose a very fast tempo while retaining the "separateness" and clarity of each note. [21] One year later he had passed the written theory exams, qualifying for an Associate of the Toronto Conservatory of Music (ATCM) diploma. [98], He worked with numerous vocalists to record Schoenberg, Hindemith, and Ernst Krenek, including Donald Gramm and Ellen Faull. He studied music theory with Leo Smith, the organ with Frederick C. Silvester, and piano with Alberto Guerrero. [47] His chair is so closely identified with him that it is shown in a place of honour in a glass case at the National Library of Canada. Although he recorded all of Mozart's sonatas and admitted enjoying the "actual playing" of them,[90] Gould claimed to dislike Mozart's later works, to the extent of arguing (perhaps facetiously) that Mozart died too late rather than too early. Although his recordings were dominated by Bach and Beethoven, Gould's repertoire was diverse, including works by Mozart, Haydn, and Brahms; pre-Baroque composers such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, William Byrd, and Orlando Gibbons; and 20th-century composers including Paul Hindemith, Arnold Schoenberg, and Richard Strauss. [29] He associated this drift towards hedonism with the emergence of a cult of showmanship and gratuitous virtuosity on the concert platform in the 19th century and later. Gould was widely known for his unusual habits. Gould participated in many interviews, and had a predilection for scripting them to the extent that they may be seen to be as much off-the-cuff discussions as they are works proper. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II : Prelude And Fugue No. He would play his own little pieces for family, friends, and sometimes large gatherings—including, in 1938, a performance at the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church (a few blocks from the Gould family home) of one of his own compositions.[14]. )[fn 15][fn 16] The spine injury he had suffered early in life led to physicians prescribing, usually independently, an assortment of analgesics, anxiolytics, and other drugs. He was extremely critical of Chopin. 30, selections from Bach's The Art of Fugue, and Paul Hindemith's Piano Sonata No. But I assure you, he was an extremely heterosexual man. He later described the experience: It was Hofmann. One is a live recording from 1954, The Schubert can be seen briefly in the film, Glenn Gould: Selected Letters (John P. L. Roberts, Ghyslaine Guertin), 1992, Elliott, R. "Constructions of Identity in the Life Stories of Emma Albani and Glenn Gould. He was progressive in many ways, promulgating the atonal composers of the early 20th century, and anticipating, through his deep involvement with the recording process, the vast changes that technology would have on the production and distribution of music. Released: 1965. Bach (Composer) Format: Audio CD. [46] He had to sit exactly fourteen inches above the floor, and would play concerts only while sitting on the old chair his father had made. Although there was some controversy at Columbia about the appropriateness of this "debut" piece, the record received phenomenal praise and was among the best-selling classical music albums of its era. His last recording as a conductor was of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll in its original chamber-music scoring. New from. Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Art of the Fugue (Excerpts), Prelude and Fugue on BACH, BWV 898 1997 Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II, BWV 846-893 1993 Bach: The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (1955 Mono Recording) 1956 Brahms: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049. Gould's writing style was highly articulate, but sometimes florid, indulgent, and rhetorical. グレングールド バッハ Glenn Gould - Bach - BWV 891 - Prelude and Fugue. He went on to explore the possibility of litigation against Steinway & Sons if his apparent injuries were permanent. [101] There is little critical commentary on Gould's compositions for the simple reason that there are few of them; he never succeeded beyond Opus 1, and left a number of works unfinished. Gould also collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic, the flautist Julius Baker and the violinist Rafael Druian in a recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. "[89] However, in 1970, he played Chopin's B minor sonata for the CBC and stated that he liked some of the miniatures and that he "sort of liked the first movement of the B minor" but never recorded any of Chopin's music. [fn 9], He stated that he did not understand the requirement of other pianists to continuously reinforce their relationship with the instrument by practising many hours a day. His String Quartet (Op. 1. He founded the Festival Trio chamber group in 1953 with the cellist Isaac Mamott and the violinist Albert Pratz. [26], The piano, Gould said, "is not an instrument for which I have any great love as such ... [but] I have played it all my life, and it is the best vehicle I have to express my ideas." In outtakes of the Goldberg Variations, Gould describes his practising technique by composing a drill on Variation 11, remarking that he is "still sloppy" and with his usual humour that "a little practising is in order." The institution of the public concert, he felt, degenerated into the "blood sport" with which he struggled, and which he ultimately rejected.[30]. He held his final public performance in 1964, and thereafter devoted his career to the studio, recording albums and several radio documentaries. [103] The majority of his work is published by Schott Music. Gould's mother would urge the young Gould to sit up straight at the keyboard. Check out Bach: Excerpts from The Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 & Prelude & Fugue in B-Flat Major, BWV 898 by Glenn Gould on Amazon Music. Gould also recorded Bach's six sonatas for violin and harpsichord (BWV 1014–1019) with Jaime Laredo, and the three sonatas for viola da gamba and keyboard with Leonard Rose. [65] Cornelia Foss has said that Gould took a lot of antidepressants, which she blamed for his deteriorating mental state. He went so far as to conduct an experiment with musicians, sound engineers, and laypeople in which they were to listen to a recording and determine where the splices occurred. [99], Gould made numerous television and radio programs for CBC Television and CBC Radio. [11] He learned to read music before he could read words,[6][12][13] and it had been observed that, at age three, he had perfect pitch. Glenn Gould plays Bach - The Goldberg Variations, BMV 998 (Zenph re-performance) Watch later. [10] She would later teach him the piano. Gould: "The piano was a means to an end for him, and the end was to approach Beethoven." I was enchanted. It is likely that this habit originated in his having been taught by his mother to "sing everything that he played", as his biographer Kevin Bazzana puts it. In a lecture and essay titled "Forgery and Imitation in the Creative Process", one of Gould's most significant texts,[81] he makes explicit his views on authenticity and creativity. The performer had to make creative choices. It's getting worse all the time. [fn 6][21], Gould was a child prodigy[22] and was described in adulthood as a musical phenomenon. These include his famous "self-interview", his book review of a biography written about him (in which he refers to himself in the third person)—not to mention the various appearances of his "alter egos" in print, radio, or TV, including an "extended and rather strained radio joke show", ("Critics Callout Corner" on the, There are two other Gould recordings of the Goldberg Variations. (Gould rarely shook people's hands, and habitually wore gloves. [68], On 27 September 1982, two days after his 50th birthday, after experiencing a severe headache, Gould suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body. [119], The Grammys are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Extracts from "The art of Piano" documentary show Glenn Gould playing J.S.Bach's Partita #2 A doomsday scenario …. In early September 1982, Gould made his final recording: Strauss's Piano Sonata in B minor.[96]. [77] Weighing this statement against Gould's highly individualistic lifestyle and artistic vision leads to an apparent contradiction. The C major prelude from the first book of the WTC. Fran's Restaurant in Toronto was a regular haunt of Gould's. He performed on television and radio, and produced three musique concrète radio documentaries called the Solitude Trilogy, about isolated areas of Canada. [35] This was the beginning of Gould's long association with radio and recording. Towards the end of his life, Gould began conducting. [50] Plans for a studio recording of the performance came to nothing. Each group chose different points based on their relationship to music, but none was wholly successful. Similarly, Gould notes the "pathetic duplicity" in the reception of high-quality forgeries by Han van Meegeren of new paintings attributed to the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, before and after the forgery was known. $6.93. I play it in a weak moment – maybe once a year or twice a year for myself. Glenn Gould Discusses His Goldberg Variations With Tim Page ((Gould Remastered)) Glenn Gould… [25] He could "memorize at sight" and once challenged his friend John Roberts to name any piece of music that he could not "instantly play from memory". [40] Among the pieces he performed that night were Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. He dabbled in composition with few finished works. "[105], One of Gould's performances of the Prelude and Fugue in C major from Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier was chosen for inclusion on the NASA Voyager Golden Record by a committee headed by Carl Sagan. The first few bars of the Goldberg Variations are carved on his grave marker. In December 1979 Gould’s longstanding producer Andrew Kazdin left Columbia. [84], Gould's first commercial recording (of Berg's Piano sonata, Op. In 1957, Gould undertook a tour of the Soviet Union, becoming the first North American to play there since World War II. (SATB with piano or string-quartet accompaniment). Glenn Gould (Artist), J.S. The temperature of the recording studio had to be precisely regulated. Performing the first movement of Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. He invariably insisted that it had to be extremely warm. Price. She purchased a house near Gould's 110 St. Clair Avenue West apartment. Gould's experience of driving across northern Ontario while listening to Top 40 radio in 1967 provided the inspiration for one of his most unusual radio pieces, The Search for Petula Clark, a witty and eloquent dissertation on the recordings of the renowned British pop singer, who was then at the peak of her international success. Glenn Gould plays Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita no.6 in E minor, BWV830.I. He often hummed or sang while he played, and his audio engineers were not always successful in excluding his voice from recordings. [120] In 1983, he was honoured posthumously, being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for his 1955 recording (released in 1956) of the Goldberg Variations.[121]. You must have that immediacy of response, that control over fine definitions of things."[27]. The somewhat muffled sound of this 20th-century instrument is very different from modern recordings that are made using copies of old harpsichords. Glenn Herbert Gould[fn 1][fn 2] (/ɡuːld/; 25 September 1932 – 4 October 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. 902, BWV 902a: Prelude in G Major, BWV 902, Prelude and Fughetta in G Major, BWV 902, Prelude in G Major to the Fughetta No. comment. ", In his liner notes and broadcasts, Gould created more than two dozen alter egos for satirical, humorous, and didactic purposes, permitting him to write hostile reviews or incomprehensible commentaries on his own performances. [58], One piece of evidence arrived in 2007. The recording Glenn Gould: The Composer contains his original works. [67] There has also been speculation that he may have had bipolar disorder, because he sometimes went several days without sleep, had extreme increases in energy, drove recklessly, and, in later life, endured deep depressive episodes. Listeners regarded his interpretations as ranging from brilliantly creative to outrightly eccentric. 67, was deemed an "outright fiasco". Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, Volume 3. Glenn Gould (piano) Bach, J S: Three-part Inventions (Sinfonias) Nos. The Klavierbüchlein For Wilhelm Friedemann Bach in C Major, BWV 924: Prelude: ... Glenn Gould / Goldberg Variations, J. S. Bach. He recounted his recording of the A minor fugue from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier and how it was spliced together from two takes, with the fugue's expositions from one take and its episodes from another. Philosopher Mark Kingwell writes that "his influence is made inescapable. He stopped giving concerts at the age of 31 to concentrate on studio recording and other projects. It's probably fair to say that until Glenn Gould got his fingers around it, Bach's music was used for teaching purposes more than anything else. Bach, J S: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 & 2. That he was not able, by himself, to fashion a bridge between them is neither surprising, nor, in the end, disappointing. 1 in A Major, HWV 426: II. Gould won four awards, but, as with the Junos, accepted only one in person. By 4 October, there was evidence of brain damage, and Gould's father decided that his son should be taken off life support. Mark Kingwell summarizes the paradox, never resolved by Gould nor his biographers, this way: He was progressive and anti-progressive at once, and likewise at once both a critic of the Zeitgeist and its most interesting expression. "[55] In a letter to the cellist Virginia Katims of 20 January 1973, Gould said he had been vegetarian for about ten years. He disliked the concert hall, which he compared to a competitive sporting arena. [17] He used this famous chair for the rest of his life and took it with him almost everywhere. 1-15, BWV772-786. As a teenager, Gould was significantly influenced by Artur Schnabel,[fn 10] Rosalyn Tureck's recordings of Bach (which he called "upright, with a sense of repose and positiveness"), and the conductor Leopold Stokowski. He was, in effect, stranded on a beachhead of his own thinking between past and future. 5 and the cantata Widerstehe doch der Sünde from the harpsipiano (a piano with metal hammers to simulate a harpsichord's sound), and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. In the case of Bach, Gould noted, "[I] fixed the action in some of the instruments I play on—and the piano I use for all recordings is now so fixed—so that it is a shallower and more responsive action than the standard. Bazzana writes that "it is tempting to assume that Gould was asexual, an image that certainly fits his aesthetic and the persona he sought to convey, and one can read the whole Gould literature and be convinced that he died a virgin"—but he also mentions that evidence points to "a number of relationships with women that may or may not have been platonic and ultimately became complicated and were ended". Report. [fn 11] Gould performed fewer than 200 concerts over the course of his career, of which fewer than 40 were outside Canada. 17 in A-flat Major, BWV 862: Fugue Glenn Gould Addeddate 2019-11-05 21:46:05 Identifier glenngould_201911 Scanner Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4. plus-circle Add Review. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I; Preludes and Fugues 1-8. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. 1 in D minor with Gould as soloist, he informed the audience that he was assuming no responsibility for what they were about to hear. Glenn Gould - Bach - BWV 891 - Prelude and Fugue. 1.2M . It's rather amazing today, when recordings of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier practically fall of the shelves, to recall just how unusual it was back in the 1960s for a pianist to undertake to record this amazing work. Conductors had mixed responses to Gould and his playing habits. [78], The issue of "authenticity" in relation to an approach like Gould's has been a topic of great debate, although diminished by the end of the 20th century. 1. Their affair lasted until 1972, when she returned to her husband. [24] Gould could play from memory not just a vast repertoire of piano music, but also a wide range of orchestral and operatic transcriptions. Glenn Gould - Bach - BWV 891 - Prelude and Fugue. Gould, therefore, prefers an ahistorical, or at least pre-Renaissance, view of art, minimizing the identity of the artist and the attendant historical context in evaluating the artwork: "What gives us the right to assume that in the work of art we must receive a direct communication with the historical attitudes of another period? Gould also recorded works by Brahms, Mozart, and many other prominent piano composers (with the notable exception of Frédéric Chopin), though he was outspoken in his criticism of the Romantic era as a whole. His mother, hoping for him to become a successful musician, had exposed him to music during her pregnancy. Although Gould's recording studio producers have testified that "he needed splicing less than most performers",[83] Gould used the process to give himself total artistic control over the recording process. 2 (the Urlicht section) in the 1960s. 1 in D minor (BWV 1052) with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic. Both his parents were musical, and his mother, especially, encouraged the infant Gould's early musical development. Amazon.com. [9] The diagnosis was first suggested by psychiatrist Peter Ostwald, a friend of Gould's, in the 1997 book Glenn Gould: The Ecstasy and Tragedy of Genius. In 2007, Foss confirmed that she and Gould had had a love affair lasting several years. 30 (Opus 109), harvtxt error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFOstwald1997 (, This is discussed and can be seen in the 1959. Glenn Herbert Gould [fn 1] [fn 2] (25 September 1932 – 4 October 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. All three use a radiophonic electronic-music technique that Gould called "contrapuntal radio", in which several people are heard speaking at once—much like the voices in a fugue—manipulated through overdubbing and editing. "[116] The prize consists of CA$100,000 for the recipient, and the responsibility of awarding the CA$15,000 Glenn Gould Protégé Prize to a young musician of their choice. After his retirement from concert performance, he was increasingly interested in other media, including audio and film documentary and writing, through which he mused on aesthetics, composition, music history, and the effect of the electronic age on the consumption of media. He hated being touched, and in later life limited personal contact, relying on the telephone and letters for communication. [23] It seems that Gould was able to practise mentally without access to an instrument, once going so far as to prepare for a recording of Brahms' piano works without playing them until only a few weeks before the sessions. As early as two weeks after leaving her husband, Foss noticed disturbing signs in Gould, alluding to unusual behaviour that was more than "just neurotic". Gould had a pronounced aversion to what he termed "hedonistic" approaches to piano repertoire, performance, and music generally. J.S. As a baby, he reportedly hummed instead of crying and wiggled his fingers as if playing chords, leading his doctor to predict that he would "be either a physician or a pianist". グレングールド バッハ Glenn Gould - Bach - BWV 891 - Prelude and Fugue. The success of Gould's collaborations was to a degree dependent upon his collaborators' receptiveness to his sometimes unconventional readings of the music. As a teenager, Gould had written chamber music and piano works in the style of the Second Viennese school. Transcriptions, compositions, and conducting, Full circumstances of the name-change can be found in, ATCM is Associate, Toronto Conservatory of Music. When Gould was in Los Angeles in 1956, he met Cornelia Foss, an art instructor, and her husband Lukas, a conductor. 4.4 out of 5 stars 76 ratings. Glenn Herbert Gould was born at home in Toronto, on 25 September 1932, to Russell Herbert Gold (1901–1996) and Florence Emma Gold (née Grieg; 1891–1975),[4] Presbyterians of Scottish, English, and Norwegian ancestry. As for Beethoven, Gould preferred the composer's early and late periods. Gould produced his final recordings himself, beginning with this Bach album in January and February 1980. He may have spoken ironically about his practising as there is evidence that, on occasion, he did practise quite hard, sometimes using his own drills and techniques. The documentary filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon said of him, "No supreme pianist has ever given of his heart and mind so overwhelmingly while showing himself so sparingly. The only organ recordings Gould made were the first nine parts of Bach's.