Geoffrey Payzant

A good analysis on one of the most famous and idiosyncratic Canadians ever (and his work habits). As a bio, it's not that deep and it doesn't span his entire life, but it's ok.

This 1978 biography of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould is a scholarly one, including 40 pages of footnotes, bibliography, discography, acknowledgements and a detailed index. The author is both a musician and a "specialist in the field of musical aesthetics", a member of the philosophy department at the University of Toronto where he gave a course in this subject. Payzant gives a lot of space to questions of authenticity in performance, the relationship between art and technology, and show more Gould's views on recording music in a controlled environment rather than giving live performances. Glenn Gould's performances of J.S. Bach's keyboard works were famous in the 1950s to the 1960s, and he made many high-quality recordings and films in the latter part of his career. In 1964 he gave up live performance, preferring the controlled environment of the recording studio, television and film. He spoke and wrote publicly about what this meant to classical musicians like himself - creating great controversy at the time. This is a short readable biography, and an interesting profile of a distinguished, internationally recognized Canadian musician. Recommended for classical music fans, especially as a companion to some of Gould's recordings. show less