Glenn Gould

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Glenn Herbert Gould September 25 1932 October 4 1982 was a Canadian pianist who became one of the bestknown and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach His playing was distinguished by remarkable technical proficiency and capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bachs music Gould rejected most of the standard Romantic piano literature and shunned the music of several of its composers notably Franz Liszt Robert Schumann and Frédéric Chopin Although his recordings were dominated by Bach Goulds oeuvre was diverse including works by Beethoven Mozart Haydn Brahms preBaroque composers such as Jan Sweelinck and such 20thcentury composers as Paul Hindemith and Arnold Schoenberg Gould was well known for various eccentricities from his unorthodox musical interpretations and mannerisms at the keyboard to aspects of his lifestyle and personal behavior He stopped giving concerts at the age of 31 to concentrate on studio recording and other projects Gould was also known as a writer composer conductor and broadcaster He was a prolific contributor to musical journals in which he discussed music theory and outlined his musical philosophy His career as a composer was less distinguished his output was minimal and many projects were left unfinished There is evidence that had he lived beyond 50 he intended to abandon the piano and devote the remainder of his career to conducting and other projects As a broadcaster Gould was prolific His output ranged from television and radio broadcasts of studio performances to musique concrète radio documentaries about life in the Canadian wilderness Description above from the Wikipedia article Glenn Gould licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia