One of the most idiosyncratic and charismatic
musicians of the twentieth century, pianist Glenn Gould
(1932-82) slouched at the piano from a sawed-down wooden
stool, interpreting Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart at
hastened tempos with pristine clarity. A strange genius
and true eccentric, Gould was renowned not only for his
musical gifts but also for his erratic behavior: he
often hummed aloud during concerts and appeared in
unpressed tails, fingerless gloves, and fur coats. In
1964, at the height of his controversial career, he
abandoned the stage completely to focus instead on
recording and writing. Jonathan Cott, a prolific author
and poet praised by Larry McMurtry as ''the ideal
interviewer,'' was one of the very few people to whom
Gould ever granted an interview. Cott spoke with Gould
in 1974 for Rolling Stone and published the transcripts
in two long articles; after Gould's death, Cott gathered
these interviews in Conversations with Glenn Gould,
adding an introduction, a selection of photographs, a
list of Gould's recorded repertoire, a filmography, and
a listing of Gould's programs on radio and TV.A
brilliant one-on-one in which Gould discusses his
dislike of Mozart's piano sonatas, his partiality for
composers such as Orlando Gibbons and Richard Strauss,
and his admiration for the popular singer Petula Clark
(and his dislike of the Beatles), among other topics,
''Conversations with Glenn Gould'' is considered by
many, including the subject, to be the best interview
Gould ever gave and one of his most remarkable
performances. |
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