Glenn Gould Chair

[nanatoly]

It's all PR - very clever for the time - I hope you will see it since it's not so good - the birthday of PR

[nanatoly]

It's all PR - very clever for the time

[sfzNotes]

there's like no padding on zee chair!?  how can one zit for hours on zee chair? sacre bleu!

[helenwhohelenwho]

Love him so much.

[MrGoodkat94]

Glenn Gould and HIS chair.

[laqttu]

'What an odd instrument you've got there'

'I think it's got a rather nice tone actually'

Classic Gould moment. Love his playing and his character!

[30inventionman]

U got this from the archive video. I have this video it's great.

[thestringdreams]

his dad made that chair!

[minasgekos]

ze member of ze family! what a great sense of humour he had!

[zetetic0void]

So Gould`s chair was like Samson`s hair ... do not take the chair - all power resides in the chair ;-) (just kidding ... but as a painter, I have ragged out brushes that I am so used to, i would be greatly annoyed if they were replaced by new perfect ones)

[lsbrother]

balancing on his testicles obviously worked for him - perhaps other pianists should try it.

[nmeau]

LOL - "much closer actually"

[bachkwt]

damn , I need to get me one of those

[alienalienss]

The music is the Toccata (first movement) from Bach's Partita 6, BWV 830. Watch Gould play it here: /watch?v=K6wuIgSSKPg

[DesertAnnie]

"Monsieur, you will not speak disrespectfully of a member of the family!".....Ha! Ha! Ha! He is so-oo "cute" at times like this, don't you think? And the closing remark; "Oh, much closer, actually!" Now, that was funny!!! ;-D

I love his humor & dry wit! How lucky the people were that knew him (& most of them were with him for many years)! They must have missed him terribly! :-(

We are blessed to have his wonderful music to enjoy, & these 'vignettes' w/ his wit & humor for the smiles! ;-)

[Hoggwood]

Yoshi: Yes, I expect you're right about the whole scene being of Gould's devising. Monsaingeon's remarks - o.k. - contrived feeds - are nonetheless crass, imo. This makes the whole scene hugely amusing. Best wishes.

[Tilostyle]

The chair - do not challenge it!

[udon890]

Where is the National Library of Canada ? I want to got there and see the CD318 Steinway Piano and also the chair. I admire Glenn Gould.

Udon from Toronto, Canada

[gorillabelly1]

@udon890

After checking, I see it's actually now called Library and Archives Canada. Mailing address: 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0N4, CANADA.

[dmdml]

Thanks for sharing. Who was the other guy? Cute like a clown :)

[bachkwt]

his name is Bruno Monsaingeon

[dmdml]

Oh, I have seen the pictures of GG's conversations with him, but didn't realize this comic fellow was that same guy :D Thanks!

[sonicyamamoto]

こんなファニーな一面も。

[Hoggwood]

Surely nobody who's enjoyed this snippet - and thanks for posting it - can doubt Gould's skill as a communicator, non-musically as well as musically. Although his contempt for the crass remarks is quite clear, he responds to them with a delicious blend of controlled sarcasm, mischief and humour.

[Yoshi5020]

@Hoggwood Hah, no I don't think it was a crass remark-- Gould probably set up this scene and asked him to ask it.

[assa123assa123]

@Yoshi5020 oh yeah, after several repetitions it's very probable to have been set up. the camera at the doorway, the flow of conversation. All looks like a practiced thing.

What a good carpenter Glenn's father was for this chair to survive so long.

Glenn doesn't look like being very gentle about it here.

[Scarlatti2007]

What's the music that follows? Beautiful and dreamy.

[Mpealow]

Partita No. 6 in e minor......; )

[notasospesa]

It's not a chair, it's THE chair

[nonnielaine]

Nothing "mad" about it. Au contraire...totally practical. If you've ever fought with a piano bench or stool for just exactly the right height over the keyboard, you would understand. The venerable chair put the venerable Glenn at precisely the right height over the keyboard to play well and in comfort.

[babyeater999]

he was a mad genius, that is just a testament to the mad part of his ego.

[pinky0926]

"What an odd instrument you've got there."

"I think it's got rather a nice tone actually."

Hahahaha

[ingres809]

Where is the chair now? Is it on display?

[gorillabelly1]

Did someone answer you yet? It's on display at the National Library of Canada.

[gingerfreakinkid]

Haha. He's so cute sometimes, especially his wit and humor.

[emann1066]

Why buy into the 'sick genius' stereotype?

Gould was Gould, was the best interpreter of Bach.....

An average composer, a didact, a man of his time - and that's the balance, between the mundane and sublime.

[ChrisWatch]

Agreed.

[DesertAnnie]

"Monsieur, you will not speak disrespectfully of a member of the family!".....Ha! Ha! Ha! He is so-oo "cute" at times like this, don't you think? And the closing remark; "Oh, much closer, actually!" Now, that was funny!!! ;-D

I love his humor & dry wit! How lucky the people were that knew him (& most of them were with him for many years)! They must have missed him terribly! :-(

[chatastic2008]

Don't fuck with the chair.

[xxh3llfir3xx]

partita no. 6: toccata by JS Bach

[jazzflutist]

Thanks for this. Just those last few notes blew me away ... (to use the vernacular).

Really an amazing person. Beautiful playing.

[justap19]

Fenomenalne

[Grigor99]

Glenn Gould was as much as savant as you will ever see. The difference between Gould and a "normal" savant is his immense intellect which tended to offset the savant characteristics of his personality

[jacqueshammond]

Est-ce que cette chaise est exposée quelque part?

[christian2M]

En effet oui! Tu pourrais voir cette chaise au Musee Canadiene des Civilisation a Hull pres de la capitale federale du Canada a Ottawa.

[Alejandro270193]

This man is a genius!!!!!

[simon7342]

"oh much closer actually" hahaha

[yes55]

By the way: attributing Asperger's Syndrome to Gould is a bit irresponsible. At the rate things are going all harmless habits, idiosyncratic behaviors, and human innovations will be diagnosed "syndromes" and mistaken for psychological maladies for which cures must somehow be found. Then we start de-evolving. Some genius should i.d. an illness whose symptoms are tasteless greed, ripping-off/ plundering of the base wealth of entire nations, and irreversible wholesale destruction of the wilderness.

[ComeLeVent]

I agree, however that's true for any psychological sickness. I think jung said once, that every psychological sickness ist just a normal reaction to an unnatural environment.

However aspergers is simply an accuratre diagnosis. From my point of view, i cannot see how people do *not* see that, but i agree with the notion that this is not a sickness, but actually the person, the character. Separating those means degrading the person itself.

[IAMLISZT]

@yes55

oh my god preach!

[fess04]

@yes55 here!!! HERE!!!!! agreed

[77edster]

@yes55 very true, well said!

[Sylbao]

@yes55 You're right, Glenn Gould was not ill, apparently. He just had his own ways, and did have Asperger characteristics. You know, aspies fight today for what we call neurodiversity.

[thestringdreams]

@yes55 Amen, brother! We see eye to eye on this matter!!!!! Life these days is absolutely rediculous!!! Did I spell that right? Probably not, oh well.... Yes, crazy greed! Well said, yes 55!

[yes55]

One always hears that he was so strange and bizarre, but he's no weirder than most math and science teachers I've had, and he has a nice and geeky sense of humor about himself. I had always heard that he was creepy... what lies!

[onekindL]

Even though it is staged, it shows Glenn's fave for humour. He was such a beautiful soul, talented, genious and perfectionist but always ready for harmless and humorous mischief. A rare combination of qualities in one human being.

onekindL

[sanny1225]

Hehe, cool!

[Oasisfan427]

funny but staged, the conversation is choppy, and the man would of known that Gould would of used the chair for 21 years!

[Fernandez218]

hahahhahaah - he's awesome!

[JacobRudduck]

He reminds me strongly of Willy Wonka.

The Gene Wilder one that is.

Johnny Depp sucked...

[tutu1100]

he is not crazy he is himself

[quintos34]

His giant musical abilities took up almost all the space in his brains, not much left for social or spontaneous crap :-)

[nwshane]

Actually, he was a very friendly, personable guy. He just didn't like being in big crowds of people... or performing for big crowds of people, for that matter.

I think he probably was spontaneous, just not in the same way as a concert performer. I mean, he would try many different interpretations of pieces he played before he chose a final one to record, and I would guess he made up the interpretations on the spot.

[PrescriptionDeath]

"without which i cannot operate i cannot function"

lol

and it was actually staged, most of gould's interviews were staged. yehudi menuhin once got mad they were staged and walked off

[trixxxxxx26]

Asperger's syndrome the new Alzheimer's syndrome?

Panta rei

[mishima1974]

I agree that Gould had Asperger Syndrome but what do you mean, "the new Alzheimer's"?

[Leibo07]

Ahahaha.., "O, much closer actually..."

Great. 'Gold'.

[jonsiii]

i will never forget the hands of the best of all time.

[kikkom4n]

where is the humming?

[Pawnd4]

I agree. Him having the Aspereger's Syndrome would also account for his high intelligence.

[Pawnd4]

I am reading a very good Gould biography at the moment, written by a good friend of his. Gould admitted to having a script for any interviews done in the studio. He did not feel comfortable with spontaneous answers.

[doctorgsja]

This might be due to Asperger's Syndrome, which he probably had.

[doctorgsja]

Hilarious the way he goes 'I think it has a rather nice tone', and then bashes another couple of chords on it, then gives up! And does all of it before taking off his hat and coat.

[estudiosinluz]

That man is stupid and asked a stupid question.

[Razaak]

But Glenn probably asked him to ask it!

[growtogether]

I agree. It was clearly staged.

Could would have been be a good actor as well.

[Leibo07]

He WAS actually an amateur actor.

[capthook1]

I love this man! His was truly a genius! I agree with him about being much closer than that of Bach, it was in contact with his ass for 21+ years!!!

[musicmaster333]

ny exact thoughts and I adore this man too; always have. I love to catch him humming along with the music he is playing, during some of his recordings.

[dansesmolfen]

What's the name of this piece Glenn plays when the video fades?

[phi358]

Bach Partita no.6

[greatcthulu]

I like how he screws around.

"You vill not speak disrespectfully about a member of ze family."

[doctorgsja]

He had Asperger's syndrome, which is why he is a bit different, but nevertheless a genius.

[greatcthulu]

My understanding has been that that's only a theory, since it's a bit difficult to do a postmortem diagnosis and people aren't exactly unbiased in this matter so that would make it a lot more difficult.

If you can show me an article or something that says it's been proven, that would be really awesome. (Not being sarcastic, just interested and lazy.)

A close friend of mine has high-functioning autism or Aspergers (depends on which doctor you ask) and he's a D&D whiz. He's a pretty cool guy.

[doctorgsja]

It hasn't been proven, but it's been presumed. I think maybe Tony Attwood stated that he believed that Gould probably had AS. Also, what's D&D?

[greatcthulu]

Dungeons and Dragons

[chislehurstbat]

postmortem diagnosis indeed... why do people need to diagnose the man: the music is his message!

[gdan666666]

They don't have piano stools at my college so I always have to perform on a normal chair. I find it makes me play much worse.

[onionpizza]

20 years ago my piano teacher told me that the low chair gave GG a better control of his fingers. The extra control, he said, allowed GG to play with his unbelievable clarity. I rushed home and cut my chair's legs in half. Played a fugue from the WTC but it came out as messy as ever. My dad laughed his head off and made buy a new chair. So much for the chair theory :-)

[Vortimid]

Is the narrator coming on to Mr Gould? What a lovely instrument you've got there, in deed!!!

[salmonroll]

I always thought it was a double entendre, too. Didn't Gould write the narration? Did the narrator know it was a set up? Hilarious. Monty Python meets Victor Borge!

[mercoid]

Glenn's father modified this, an old bridge table folding chair, for him. It has little height adjustable bolts at the ends of the legs.

Thats one crazy-ass rickety chair. I have read there are some recordings in which you can hear the chair squeak. Although I've never detected it any any of my Gould recordings.

[Naunaud128]

Well you can hear the chair on the 1981 recordings, variation 3 @1:00, but it's all along the record :)

[mercoid]

Have it. I will listen for the chair next time.

Thanks :)

[emeez13]

Sound of God - Soli Deo Gloria

[spindoctor36]

It seems a Monty Python skecth

[sedna90377]

Almost all of Gould's conversations on film were were written by Gould himself. He wrote his dialogue and the interviewer's questions before filming!

[Badpiano1232345]

thanks!

[schenkerian]

He was playing the beginning of Bach's Partita No.6 in E minor.

[Badpiano1232345]

what song was he playing at the end.

[scottbos68]

lol what a beatup piece of crap chair

[mendax1773]

I've seen a video where he's not sitting in his chair. But he seems to have used it most of the time.

[firstwanderer]

Thank you very much, Glenn, for everything!! You -and your chair- have accompanied all my life. When I die I'll be still listening to your Bach playing.

[augustjologs]

There's the secret of Gould's virtuosity -- the chair! He himself revealed he cannot function without it. Whoever sits on that chair shall inherit Glenn Gould's prowess! The chair! The chair, my piano for the chair!

[onekindL]

If only that were true. I sat on this chair in 1964. It was a little wobbly, and I still can not play the piano better than a new student or read music. onekindL

[Brianjonestown]

Dead of Canadian winter garb? Sweet stereotype, but Gould wore that in midsummer as well. And the low chair makes no physiological difference one way or the other. It's just the way he preferred to sit.

[gautam3]

Perhaps one of the greatest pianists to ever live. The idiosyncrasy...the genius.

[jimihendrix03]

le grand Glenn Gould ^^ on ne t'oubli pas

[gouldite]

he's got such a universal charm. and no great-personality-attitude, no dominating dullness typical of many a virtuoso.

[promeprome]

what´s the name of the piece he plays at the end?

[NeoMalikov]

Bach, Partita #6, E minor.

[petechandaman]

the low chair actually prevents carpetunnel and injuries to the finger tendons.... again glenn gould was ahead of his times

[VladekMeyer83]

Oh my! Thanks so much for posting this. Where on earth did you find it?

I love how he just marches in, in his standard dead-of-Canadian-winter garb, moves straight to the piano, in front of which he firmly plants the chair, removes his gloves, and begins playing without so much as a nod to anyone else in the room. A true character!

Compelling performance by the chair, too.

[GlobalHuntMan]

It's probably because of that chair that he developed severe muscular problems.

[teichno12]

he oozed charm and intellect.

[mercoid]

Am I correct in my observation that that chair has not seat pad? It looks to me like what he acctualy puts his butt on is the little wood plank that the seating surface goes over.

It looks so rickety too. I always think it's about to collapse into a pile of kindling. Thank goodness that never happened! Imagine how devestated he would be! As bad or worse even than when the movers dropped CD318.

[musiclover63]

... actually an e minor chord ... whould have say that chair ...

[crowdmaker]

"Do you actually mean that this chair is as close a companion as Bach has been in your musical career?"

Glenn reflects.

Gould: Oh, much closer, actually.

(*Arpeggiates a f minor chord*)

CLASSIC!

[aurelienpk]

E, G, B, E, G, B, E, G

E minor ;-)

[crowdmaker]

Er, yeah. Quite right. My absolute pitch can be a semi-tone off some days. I'd bs something about the e of an equal-tempered scales being slightly sharp and thereby throwing me off, but I'd best be eating my humble pie and moving along... :-)

[yuzu1009]

It looks today very, very fragile; perhaps it is the one who misses him the most.

I know it must be a treasure to us left on this planet, but it should have gotten burried with its owner.

[ocularfusion]

No, it's not just "a" chair. It's "the" chair. It's a member of Gould's family.