At Home with Glenn Gould (1959) 1/9

A stunningly intimate conversation between a world-weary Glenn Gould and the CBC's Vincent Tovell, conducted on 4 December 1959, two years after Gould's triumphant tour of the Soviet Union, five years prior to his final concert.

Who do we have to thank for this treasure? A native Torontonian, fellow Gouldian YouTuber who answered my call for the full version of Glenn Gould's Toronto and who threw this interview in as a bonus! We are forever in his debt.

Pencil sketch of Glenn Gould by the amazing yuzu1009. Please check out her channel for other works of true artistic wonder: http://www.youtube.com/user/yuzu1009

I created a single MP3 file of the entire interview. You can download it for free here: http://www.mediafire.com/?knyn1tnyz1n

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Glenn
• Gould
• At
• Home
• Interview
• Vincent
• Tovell
• CBC
• Canada
• Soviet
• Union
• Pianist
• Concert
• Retirement
• Bach
• Schoenberg
• Webern

[SimmySlydeJr2]

...I read somewhere that Gould would actually have written out all of his interviews before actually having them...I wonder is this particular sit-down is an exception.

[erp65]

@SimmySlydeJr2 -- He did indeed -- especially his television "chats" with other musicians. Also, check out his interview with Tim Page on the "Glenn Gould: A State of Wonder" CD set. Scripted.

This interview, however, as you suggest, seems unscripted to me, as does his interview with John McClure "Glenn Gould: Concert Dropout" (which I've also uploaded).

But one never knows with the inveterate prankster, does one?

[MrRinaldo83]

Sorry, beautiful music, but what is the composer?

[erp65]

@MrRinaldo83 - The opening piece? It's Gould's transcription of a Bruckner string quartet (Gould says so at 1:30).

[northicekate]

Another Gouldian treasure! Thanks erp65!

[respecttolkien]

thank you.... !

[mattbod]

Thanks for posting. The net comes into its own when people share stuff like this :)

[sdegrace]

Bruckner at the piano is profound here.

[insomniacgrace]

Thanks. Cool and amazing!

[allegramente5000]

the Bruckner transcription is sublime!

[Ben1Bertels]

@erp65 string quintet..

[jansenelke]

such wonderful



[rubestuh]

@erp65 I'm sure Gould's scripting of interviews began long after 1959. Later, everything was scripted. Have you seen "Glenn Gould's Toronto"? Every word is scripted ... yet he SEEMS so spontaneous. It's uncanny and almost a bit unsettling. GG became more and more of a control freak in his life. I love his playing, but I think something was a bit unbalanced in his personal life. (It's almost a cliche to say so, I suppose.)

[mmcrosbie]

You can hear Glenn humming this and in this case, it sounds just fine. It makes you feel he is right in the room with you. Wonderful.