Customer Reviews

Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould

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Among the classical musicians of the twentieth century, there was none with as eager a fan base as Glenn Gould. The fans have not diminished in number since Gould's death at age fifty in 1982. Gould was a consummate musician who brought light to neglected but important works, but he was also an oddball who adored the Mary Tyler Moore Show, (...), popped dozens of pills every day to help him over imaginary illnesses, and refused to come out of self-imposed isolation to play a recital for a million-dollar fee. There has been an authorized biography of Gould before, but now _Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould_ (Oxford University Press) by Kevin Bazzana must be the one for all fans to have. Bazzana is the editor of nothing less than GlennGould magazine, and has written a previous book about Gould's musicianship. He brings helpful light on such topics as the influence of Gould's one piano teacher and his love of Canada and his home town Toronto. He is especially helpful in illuminating Gould's early life.

Gould's parents were conservative, strict Protestants who stressed propriety as he was growing up in Toronto's Beach district. They had to make sure he did not practice too much (not too little, like most parents of young musicians) and learned that the strictest punishment they ever needed to enforce was locking up the piano. He remained close to them all his life, only moving out of their home when his parents were elderly in 1959. He knew he was going to be a classical pianist from age around five. He loved his neighborhood and the people who knew he was freakish or famous, but treated him as if he were just an unusual guy. He hated performing and touring. Even so, his performances were regarded by many as high points in their lives as listeners. Among the many stories told here is that of his first Russian concert, in Moscow. The auditorium was only a third full, but at intermission, concertgoers hurriedly called their friends to tell them what was going on. There was a small riot for tickets for the second half of the show.

It was the recording studio to which he was devoted and to which he retired from his hated performing. His premiere recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1955 brought to attention a piece that had only rarely been performed or recorded before, being thought too difficult and rarefied. The recording was a sensation, and remains one of the bestselling classical discs of all time. (It ought to be; there is no better join of dazzling technique, speedy fingers, and loving intimacy with the music.) He liked working with the technicians who helped record his performances, and had good humor in the sessions, but it was him in front of the microphone, in the isolation he preferred; he wrote, "Isolation is the one sure way to human happiness." Bazzana relishes the multiple enigmas that Gould presents, and this one is surely key: Gould isolated himself right into millions of homes, where it was obvious he communicated something important. Today, worshipful listeners, some of whom were not alive when he was, make pilgrimages to see his home sites, and his rickety old chair which he used whenever he played. He said that the purpose of art is "... the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity." If that is the purpose of art, he would have admired this graceful, readable, big biography that underscores the full complexity of a monumentally enigmatic artist.

With this book, Otto Friedrich's biography of Glenn Gould is finally surpassed. Kevin Bazzana was able to get more people to talk about their memories of Gould, and the result is this very readable biography. The author brings back the impact that Gould's 1955 Goldberg Variations had on the music world. One record executive said that it was as if there had been a big run on a new printing of the Enneads of Plotinus. Throughout, Gould's career and life is told in satisfying detail and insight. He tries hard to explain Gould's musical contrariness, as in his mauling of Mozart's sonatas, but often has to simply yield and accept Gould's contrariness as such (though he intriguingly suggests that Gould may have been a musical forerunner of the postmodernists). And of course there is ample celebration of Gould's genius and his enduring cult.

According to Bazzana, he's a regular Victor Borge in the humor department. But on this score as on so many others, Bazzana must largely concur with the received legend, while offering scattered counter-examples. On balance, Gould was an excruciatingly unfunny humorist, a clotted, unreadable essayist, but also an entertaining raconteur, an unaffected star, and a proud Canadian.

Bazzana's biography of Gould succeeds, but I was left wanting more. For example, there doesn't seem to be any discussion of Gould's mysterious failure to record the crown jewel of Bach's oeuvre, The Art of the Fugue. His organ rendition doesn't count, and may be seen as Gould's way of side-stepping the issue. He could certainly play the fugues: they appear in any number of his concerts, and I especially treasure those that appear in his Russian lecture/concert on a Harmonia Mundi disc I own. Fugue no. 1 sounds like the dawning of some grand insight. Yet Gould never committed the whole thing to record on piano, and disappointingly, Bazzana doesn't offer any insight on why.

There are some very minor errors of fact here and there. For example, Bazzana apparently didn't realize that the Last Letters From Stalingrad, for which Gould wrote vocal sketches, were later proven to be forgeries.

It is very good to have a mini-biography of Gould's teacher, Alberto Guerrero. It's a shame that he made no commercial recordings, so that we could assess his influence on his famous pupil.

Bazzana seeks to explain the oft-rumored Canadian Identity to his readers, as it applies to Gould. Marshal McLuhan and Stephen Leacock are presented as exemplars of the Canadian spirit in communications technology and understated humor, respectively. Like McLuhan, Gould's ideas about communications were ahead of their time. Indeed, even with satellite communications and the technological miracles of the Internet Age, we may doubt that we have caught up with him yet. Oscar Wilde would have been a natural on TV chat shows; maybe Gould would have fit right in sometime in the future, after a few more revolutions in technology. It's as if he was a natural born genius at some field of endeavor that hadn't been invented yet, and so had to settle for realizing his visions by splicing magnetic tape. And playing piano, of course.

I can't exactly put a nail on why I have read so many biographies on Gould, but I dare say the story of his reclusiveness, isolation and his pursuit of his art has always intrigued me. Up to this point my favorite biography on Gould had been the Otto Fredrick "A Life in Variations", so I had a pre-conceived notion that this book may just have been be a re-telling of all the stories and interviews I heard in the past.

Bazzana appears to set himself apart here in that he was not asked to write a biography on Gould as he described in the book. There are many snippits of things I've allready knew about Gould here, but Bazzana also tries to put another angle on some of the eccentricities most have heard or read about prior. He encapsulates many different views of Gould, so much so that I feel that I have a bit more insite here. Also, Bazzana appears to set some of the record straight for other biographical sources such as Andrew Kazdin's work called "Glenn Gould At Work, Creative Lying" which is another book I gained knowledge from and did enjoy. It may not be entirely possible to have a true biographical account of Gould, but I still appreciate this additional account of his life although I am only giving it 4 stars because I feel there will never be a complete biography of an individual due to different sources and views, but this one is generally well researched. It does re-hash some of the other interview material, sources etc, but within the book there does appear to be an attempt here to rationalize his behaviour and give a better look beyond the stereotype.

What is it about Glenn Gould? He's been the subject of books, dvds, and one odd movie made up of a mosaic of short films. Gould's life and music has captured the attention and imagination of people who otherwise would not venture anywhere near classical performers.

"Wondrous Strange" doesn't delve deeply into opinions, or really attempt to explain why people were (and are) so affected by Gould--it simply lays out Gould's life in block-like sections, marking his attitudes and approaches to both music and life. The result is a thick book full of Gouldian lore, with many fascinating passages, that doesn't cohere quite as well as it could have. Bazzana develops themes, drops them, and then revisits them a few chapters on. Pages could have been trimmed where Bazzana is busy repeating himself. It's as if the book were trying to envelope Gould, like an octopus settling on a lobster.

Does it succeed? Mostly, yes. With repeated gleanings, Gould emerges to the reader as something of a "mutant"--a person slightly ahead of his time. He was a reclusive person, who came to hate concert limelight, and found great comfort in the controlled technology of the studio. He (probably correctly) discerned that an artist usually communicates better, and certainly more intimately, through recordings than through concerts.

Gould's belief in the classical music performer's right to interpret and reimagine great works of music put him at odds with many critics, as did his tendency to "sing" wordlessly as he played. These things only served to reinforce Gould's singularity, and mark him as a modernist. Like James Dean, or the Beatles, Gould transcended his time. He was a dreamer who continues to captivate and to inspire dreams in his legion of followers.

Born in 1932 in Toronto, Ontario, Glenn Gould is surely one of the most enigmatic and celebrated musicians of our time. According to biographer Kevin Bazzana, it's almost as if Gould's gifts were too many for one man to pursue.

Bazzana has spent some two decades studying his elusive subject. Given free rein to explore Gould's papers and granted interviews by any number of the artist's friends and colleagues who were once reluctant to speak, the author is able to shed light on many questions that have piqued the interest of Gould fans. We are privy to much of his family history (the original family name was Gold), and the health problems that plagued him.

Precocious? Yes, indeed. Readers learn that at the estimable age of 3 his talents were obvious. Perfect pitch was but one of them. As a child he was publicly performing on both piano and organ. His musical education was completed in Canada, and although known throughout Canada he did not make his American debut until 1955. His programs were unorthodox and his behavior on stage often very odd. To say Gould was an iconoclast is an understatement, but such a talented one. He was also an industrious writer, and later in life began conducting.

It was in 1964 that Gould deserted the concert stage to perform solely for records, radio, television, and film. His last recording was made in 1982, the year that he died.

Like some before him Gould's fame has grown since his death. Today many visit Toronto, paying their respects to a man who is arguably one of the greatest contemporary musicians.

- Gail Cooke

This unstoppably heartrending biography of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould unveils the mysteries of a perfect art more cogently and beautifully than has any other artist's biography I've ever come across. Kevin Bazzana has opened up Gould's eccentricities and placed them where finally they must sleep - merely deep in the natural whole of one of the inescapable musicians of the 20th century. Those lucky enough to know the meaning of the art of Glenn Gould will always be grateful for that achievement.

This is a tremendous book. The moments when Bazzana's utterly secure love for Gould's art shines through are the most extraordinary aspect of a completely worthy biography. With deep and glistening writing Bazzana evokes every aspect of looking-at-Gould with the same sound character found in Gould's playing - it's an amazing experience! This is biographical literature extensive and schooled, and even wise; reading is like gliding on glass, so perfect is the author's determination, and Gould lives on every page. What could be better?

Was ever a pianist's art more wonderful? Gould's playing is always extraordinary by every standard, and beyond. And not only the playing, of course; his mind, his understanding of music, his humor - these form the scaffolding of a remarkable artistic vision. For all his reclusion, his is the most giving human art, reaching to infinity. Art of the gods obtains dimensions the proof of which can be heard in everything he played. It's a consuming art, yet so freeing. The wondrous thing about it is how Gould kept so much of himself even as he spent lavishly on Bach and Byrd and Schoenberg. Music never overtook Gould - that task inevitably fell to Gould himself.

By literature of this kind, the sadness that still lingers around Gould's death seems entirely transformed. This is a great book that ends too quickly and lingers too pervasively. Afford yourself the wealth.

I've been perusing this book every chance I get at Borders. I can't wait to buy it! This has got to be hands-down the best bio on Gould you can read. And it is remarkably accessible. I'm no musician so hate it when writers go off on tangents describing a certain "contrapuntal line in 3/10 time over a 2/8...etc, etc", but this book is nothing of the kind. Anyone can come to it and enjoy it for what it is -- a candid, in-depth, and intelligent portrait of a genius. Also, full of revealing photographs. A must-buy for any music-lover, Classical or not, doesn't matter. Gould is indispensable and I agree with the author when he talks about a "cult of personality" surrounding Gould, a cult that approaches a "James Dean, Elvis Presley" stature. Believe it!

Twenty years of interviews with friends and colleagues of classical pianist Glenn Gould contribute to the biography Wonderous Strange: The Life And Art Of Glenn Gould: a masterpiece probing not just Gould's artistic life, but his family and social relationships. Kevin Bazzana holds a doctorate in music history: perhaps this is why his coverage is so scholarly and detailed in scope: yet as a freelance writer and editor, he's also more than able to add spice and insight into his work, making Wonderous Strange a distinctive probe of Gould's memorable traits and influences.

This book is extremely well written, well researched and covers all aspects of Gould's life including his early childhood, his health problems, his radio and TV activities and many things more.

It is occasionally very entertaining (I had a lot of good laughs) and hard to put down. I lost two nights sleep over it in a most pleasant way but was nevertheless strangely alert the next morning. Somehow the uplifting energies of the master must have slipped in.

Buy it, read it and give it as a gift to anybody who likes music or reading.

I may hallucinate this, but even the style the book is written in seems to be "Gouldian"

The definitive biography of the idiosyncratic pianist Glenn Gould, who died of a massive stroke in 1982, nine days after his 50th birthday. Gould is often regarded as an anomaly, outside of any tradition, but this book places him in the context of his upper middle class Protestant upbringing and the cultural milieu of mid-twentieth century Canada. This book also dispels long-held myths about Glenn Gould.