Glenn Gould

(1932-1982 Toronto, Canada) Born Glen Gold. His parents, who were Protestant, changed their name from Gold to Gould, to avoid being thought of as being Jewish. His family was deeply involved in music and he is related to the Norweigan composer and pianist, Edvard Grieg. Both his parents were musicians, and his mother was his only teacher until the age of ten. As early as the age of three, Glenn revealed an exceptional aptitude for music in regards to pitch perception and the ability to read musical charts. By the age of five he was composing his own pieces for family performances. He began studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music at the age of ten. In 1945, at the age of 13, he passed the Conservatory's examination as a solo performer. One reviewer wrote of his performance of Beethoven and Liszt among others in 1947, "Genius as profound as [the composers'] own was at the keyboard."

The following year he made his solo debut with orchestra at a Conservatory concert and the next year he did so with the Toronto Symphony.

Gould made his New York debut in 1955 and the next day signed a recording contract with Columbia Masterworks (CBS). Gould's first recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations in June of the same year won instant acclaim, becoming a bestseller and launching his career as an international star. He would make over sixty recordings for Columbia.

In 1957 Gould toured Europe beginning with two weeks in the Soviet Union, becoming the first North American to perform there during the Cold War. He was enthusiastically received by both audiences and critics.

In 1960, with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, he made his American television debut.

Gould's concert career continued to boom along with his fame during the early 1960s until, without any fanfare, he announced his retirement from live performing.after a 1964 Los Angeles recital. Gould did not consider himself as just a pianist and wanted to devote more time and engery to composing, conducting, broadcasting and experimenting with technology and writing about music. He had also developed a strong dislike for performing. "At live concerts I feel demeaned, like a vaudevillian."

One biographer wrote of Gould, "Through a remarkable degree of self-awareness and self-knowledge, Glenn Gould knew what he wanted to accomplish and how he wanted to live his life -- and in both he succeeded completely . . . He was a solitary man, but he touched and uplifted the lives of many."

Glenn Gould died in 1982, after having suffered a stroke.

Shortly before his death, Gould made a second recording of the Goldberg Variations twenty six years after the first. This 1981 recording was one of CBS Masterworks' first digital recording, and the last in the famed 30th street studio. The album was a huge success, winning two Grammy Awards in 1983.

The following links are to clips of those recordings. No performance by any musician has so astounded me with its brilliance. The intimacy of the camera allows a partnership with Gould, an open window to his relationship with the instrument and the notes of Bach. It is as if the piano keys are his children and he is guiding them along Bach's musical trail. Enjoy.

Variations 1-7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJhs2tSoP5c


Variations 8-14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzO0XWcnA38&mode=related&search=

Variations 15-17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XsExacnVoM&mode=related&search=

Variations 18-24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ0SVYf0-Qc&mode=related&search=


Variation 25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcA-XtPgTLw&mode=related&search=

Variations 26-30 and Aria da capo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOaeJhcCtbE&mode=related&search=