Wondrous Strange: the Life and Art of Glenn Gould

I had a couple of hours between rehearsals so I thought I'd grab some lunch at a local restaurant but I must have something to read while I eat.  I forgot my book back home (which is forty minutes away from where I work) so I thought I'd pop over to the local library which usually has some books to sell.  Below is what I left the library with.  How much did they all cost?  At ten cents a book, I came out a dollar poorer.  None of these are brilliant reads but they will be quick ones and I may or may not review any of them but at least they will go toward my book reading goal, which, according to Goodreads I am lagging behind by seventeen books.

 Like the yellow film on my car?  It's pollen season here.

I once tied in a piano competition because I played a Bach Toccato in a manner inspired by one of my heroes, Glenn Gould.  The judge informed me "I don't like Glenn Gould."

I love Glenn Gould.  Here is William Byrd's Sixth Pavan and Galliard played more beautifully than you will every hear it by any other pianist.  When my son graduated from high school, we played this work to his life slide show.  We also played it to my life slide show at Josh's and my wedding.  It is also the ring tone to my son when he calls me. Yes, I really, really love this song.  As played by the master.


Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould by Kevin Bazzana

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is my first and so far only biography of one of my favorite pianists but I do not know how it could be improved upon.

Kevin Bazzana gives a thorough and balanced account of one of the more controversial concert pianists of the twentieth century.

Bazzana documents his subject in a variety of ways: he gives us a chronology of Gould's life, his development as an artist, his concert years and finally his recording years.

Gould was a child genius and had the good fortune to have indulgent parents with the financial resources to give him everything he required in order to cultivate his unique talents. This included changing his piano every couple years. Gould's quest for a perfect piano was a life long journey for him and he spent scads of money making sure his beloved Steinway was in impeccable working order until it met with a tragic accident (it was dropped in transit and ruined).

There has been speculation whether Gould was autistic or had Asberger's. The author does not offer any conclusion but simply presents Gould as honestly as he can with all of his idiosyncrasies. These included a largely anti-social personality, hypochondria, and many, many rituals and demands that hampered his concert career which he finally abandoned in favor of studio recording.

Love him or hate him Gould was an utterly fascinating individual but that would not matter to the world so much if he was not a truly incredible musician. Watching him sit at his low chair (it was his chair and he would sit only in it, even when the seat deteriorated away and he was sitting on the frame), reaching up to the piano (he felt this physical approach determined the exact sort of sound he wanted to produce).

Gould was fascinated by Arnold Schoenberg and his twelve tone compositions and he was also obsessed with Bach and other Baroque composers. His performances of the Hindemith Sonatas are as wonderful as they are unique. His performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations are legendary (and you can buy them on Amazon for a mere $100.00 - or like me download them from Spotify).

He was interesting to watch, too, as he conducted himself from his chair, as he played and sang. Yes he sang and the record technicians earned their pay trying to filter out Gould's voice on his recordings. They did not always succeed.

This was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. If I were to find some complaint it would be that Bazzana tended to jump around on the time line. We would be discussing Gould's final years in the 1980s and then we'd be back in the 1960s.

This is, however, a minor complaint and I am glad I have gotten to know better a personally well-loved pianist.



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