The Glenn Gould Trilogy

Label: Sony Classical
CD No: 88697130642
Website: www.sonyclassical.com

Glenn Gould would have been 75 this September, and this three-part audio documentary (originally made for German radio, whose multichannel mix is included here on a special SACD layer) traces the life of the great Canadian pianist.

Combining sound collage techniques with straightforward narrative, writer Michael Stegemann (a leading Gould authority) constructs a strongly evocative portrait of a man whose eccentricities (wearing an overcoat and gloves in summer, plunging his hands into hot water before playing) have frequently obscured the fact that he was an interpreter of extraordinary prescience.

Episode one is especially interesting, unearthing fascinating detail about, for instance, the effect that learning the organ had on Gould's clipped, staccato style of piano playing. Extremely rare acetates of Gould's earliest recordings are also intriguingly sampled.

The second episode revolves around Gould's legendary 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, and stops in 1964 with his complete 'drop-out' (aged 31) from concert-giving ('I don't believe in it'). Episode three surveys the post-concert years, including Gould's pioneering experiments with what he termed 'contrapuntal radio'.

If you know Gould's work already, this absorbing issue is virtually self-recommending. If you don't, this is a superb introduction to a musician of immense importance, whose many recordings you will then almost certainly want to investigate further. Terry Blain

• Print
• Email to friend
• Discuss