Canadian composer and pianist (1932–1982)
He quit the stage at 31 and never looked back. Glenn Gould treated the piano like an argument he intended to win — technically flawless, contemptuous of Romanticism, fanatical about Bach. His 1955 Goldberg Variations recording made him famous; his decision to abandon live performance made him a riddle.
Born Glenn Gold in Toronto on 25 September 1932, he changed the spelling and became the rarest kind of pianist: one who said no. He rejected Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff — most of the Romantic canon — and built his career around Bach, Beethoven, and moderns like Schoenberg and Hindemith. He championed Orlando Gibbons above all others. By 1964 he'd stopped giving concerts entirely, retreating into the studio and the broadcasting booth, where he produced scripted television programs and three musique concrète radio documentaries about Canada's isolated places. He wrote prolifically on m…
Sourced, dated quotes from Glenn Gould
I believe that the justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men and not its shallow, externalized, public manifestations.
The mental imagery involved with pianistic tactilia is not related to the striking of individual keys but rather to the rites of passage between notes.
Never be clever for the sake of being cleverFor the sake of showing off.
I tend to follow a very nocturnal sort of existence mainly because I don't much care for sunlight. Bright colors of any kind depress me, in fact.
The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.
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