Honouring Glenn Gould

On Sept. 25, 2011 legendary pianist Glenn Gould would've marked his 79th birthday. To commemorate this anniversary, CBC will release a comprehensive DVD collection - Glenn Gould on Television: The Complete CBC Broadcasts.

Gould is one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century.

By the time Gould reached his mid-20s, he had changed the way the world listened to the keyboard works of J.S. Bach. By the time of his fatal stroke in 1982 at the age of 50, the daring and visionary artist had successfully challenged many of the most cherished conventions of classical music.

The 10-disc box set weaves together stunning Gould recordings, intimate interviews and nearly 30 years of footage that honour the life, ideas and many accomplishments of Gould.

The box set marks the first time the film and television programs Gould made with CBC from 1954 to 1977 are being made available to music fans around the world.

Watch a preview of the box set:


Glenn Gould on Television: The Complete Broadcasts includes more than 19 hours of TV specials, concert performances, interviews and discussions, all remastered specifically for the DVD release. The collection makes it possible to enjoy what Gould always considered some of his most significant and original life's work - most of which has not been seen since it was first broadcast.

Inclusions in the set are: The Subject is Beethoven, Music in the USSR, Glenn Gould on Bach, Richard Strauss - A Personal View, The Anatomy of a Fugue, Anthology of Variation, Duo: Gould and Menuhin, all four Conversations with Glenn Gould films, The Idea of North, the four Music in Our Time programs, and more.

Gould's earliest surviving broadcast performance, Heure de Concert from December 1954 is in the set. Viewers will also hear Gould's musings on Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Strauss and Arnold Schoenberg and see a 1966 interview with Alex Trebek beginning with "I detest audiences."

The remarkable collection of CBC videos will be released by Sony Classical and will be available for purchase on Sept. 27. Pre-orders can be placed online in the CBC Shop.

To coincide with the release, CBC is also launching a new website devoted to the life of Gould.

Each month leading up to what would've been Gould's 80th birthday in 2012, video selections from the new DVD box set, as well as numerous radio broadcasts and documentaries will be available on the site for on-demand streaming. You will also be able to explore an interactive timeline and view rare photos from CBC archives.

Formidable newcomer

It was in early 1956, that the international world of music suddenly became aware of a formidable newcomer.

The 24-year-old Canadian pianist, seemed to come from nowhere to establish an astonishing presence, particularly associated with the music of Bach. The occasion was the release by Columbia Records of the complete Goldberg Variations, recorded by Gould in June 1955 at Columbia's downtown Manhattan studio. Gould's take on the relatively under-performed work was revolutionary. And his technical execution was breathtaking. His career as a performer was assured right from the outset.

But exactly one year earlier, on June 21, 1954, the CBC Times, the broadcast guide of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, proudly announced the extension of the prestigious programme Distinguished Artists, from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

"The 45-minute period", the Times stated, "will make it possible to present a single programme by Glenn Gould the complete Goldberg Variations by Bach."

To Canadians, Gould was no surprise. Nor was his extraordinary gift. From the age of 18 he had been heard from coast to coast on CBC airwaves, developing his individualistic preferences in repertoire. Bach, Hindemith, Scarlatti, Schoenberg, Webern and Berg - all were broadcast by Gould. In his late-teens and early-twenties, Gould had already established himself in Canada as a "young maverick", with his bold, intelligent, curious and even zelous interpretations.

Playground for invention

From the earliest years of his career, Gould was fascinated with the possibilities afforded by radio, tape and the recording studio.  From his CBC radio broadcast debut on Christmas Eve 1950, through the intricate radio documentaries of the 1960s and the 1970s, the CBC studios were a playground for his powers of invention.

Through almost a decade of international touring and public performances from 1955-1964, Gould regularly played studio recitals, appeared with the CBC's radio orchestras, and gave on-air interviews and talks on musical subjects.

But in 1964, Gould stunned the world and abandoned live performances, boldly stating that "the concert is dead."

Watch Gould announce he's quitting the concert stage:


Until his death in 1982, he forged new artistic paths as composer, conductor and broadcaster, collaborating closely with the CBC.

Gould's exit from the concert stage in 1964 released his full energy into the electronic media and he excelled in the role of a radio artist. His multi-layered structure in documentary-making was extremely innovative at the time of its creation and remains entirely unique in that landscape.

The musical structure of the fugue influenced Gould's radio documentary work. He would mix two or three voices as well as music on top of each other, using the human voice like different melodies in a piece of music. He called this method "contrapuntal style."

In the 1960s and '70s, he produced a series of innovative radio and TV documentaries for the CBC on a wide range of topics including Mennonites, Leopold Stokowski and British pop star Petula Clark.

His most famous documentary was The Idea of North, which is highlighted in the box set. It was first broadcast on CBC Radio in 1967 and was the first installment of the Solitude Trilogy and part of the Canada's Centennial celebrations.

The trilogy deals with people outside the mainstream in remote circumstances such as the North. Gould focused on how northerners' spiritual strength helps them cope with solitude and isolation.

It was a natural topic for Gould as the North had fascinated him since childhood.

He took a train to Churchill, Man., in the 1960s and recorded many of the sounds he heard during his journey for The Idea of North.

"The Idea of North is that condition of solitude which is neither exclusive to the north nor the prerogative of those who go North but which does, perhaps, appear, with all its ramifications, a bit more clearly to those who have made, if only in their imagination, the journey north," Gould said.

Gould loved the solitude of the North - the landscape suited his reclusive, nocturnal lifestyle.

"I don't much care for the sunlight or bright colours of any kind," he once said.

Hear Gould talk about his love of the North:


Keep checking the 75th anniversary blog for more information about the box set and Glenn Gould's life and career.

Posted on Sep 20, 2011 1:24:16 PM