We reviewed the fascinating collection of some of Gould’s own documentaries recently
in a five-CD set from Sony/BMG. These three discs carry an also fascinating audio portrait of the great pianist and eccentrics’ eccentric, as designed by his biographer. It may seem odd that the production was produced and recorded in Cologne, Germany, but that is evidently where the writer, Michael Stegemann, is based. One of the techniques Gould used in his radio documentaries was akin to the use of counterpoint in music, and that was to have more than one voice speaking at once – often an overlapping of as many as three or more voices, placed spatially at left, center and right. That is used sparingly in these presentations, though not as strongly as Gould had done. The idea is to give the audio presentation a musical structure of building up tension in the various excerpts and music and then reducing it – just as in a work of music.
There are several actors involved in the production, including one who does Gould’s voice, and quite convincingly too. More than one narrator is also heard. Soundwise we hear a mix of biographic details, readings from Gould’s many articles, excerpts from some of his nonmusical programs as well as his performances on the CBC and Columbia Records, plus reminiscences by those who knew or worked with him, including one of the several psychiatrists he saw.
One will come away from the documentaries with a much more intimate knowledge of Gould as a person – a very unusual person in addition to having been one of the world’s greatest pianists. Among the Gould factoids: Orlando Gibbons was his favorite composer, and he had more affinity for Arnold Schoenberg than any other modern composer. He thought he would enjoy and do very well at being a prisoner, feeling that the idea of freedom is greatly overemphasized in Western culture. He went to bed at 5 AM and usually arose about 3 PM, keeping all the drapes in his penthouse apartment totally closed all the time. He loved to spend as much time as possible at his far north getaway 1000 miles north of Toronto, and have hours-long phone conversations with people – including playing 20 Questions (having them guess what he was thinking). He always brought a large medicine chest to his recording sessions; music writer Tim Page describes Gould’s bathroom when he visited him for an interview – it was littered with Valium bottles. Even his sex life is considered; he was probably not homosexual, having had a four-year affair with the wife of conductor Lukas Foss, who eventually returned to her husband.
Among the music played and discussed by Gould: Bach: Goldberg Variations, The Art of Fugue, the WTC; Mozart piano sonatas; Haydn piano sonatas; Berg piano sonata; Hindemith piano sonata; Beethoven piano sonatas & Liszt transcription of Fifth Symphony; Krenek piano sonata, Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1; Grieg piano sonata; works of Richard Strauss; Chopin; Schoenberg and Webern. There is a section devoted to some of Gould’s own compositions – though not a note of his wonderful So You Want to Write a Fugue?, and also a section on his own rare conducting and soloing with various other conductors (he had falling-outs with both Szell and Bernstein).
As I added to the review of the other Gould audio productions, the individual audio threads are more easily sorted out when listening thru headphones. The producer was able to go Gould one better technically speaking due to audio advances since Gould was active. He certainly had an easier job editing digitally than Gould had using a razor blade and tape. An attempt was made to further some of Gould’s ideas of a “radiophonic spatial art.” However, distinguishing some of the voices by adding reverb or EQ to them didn’t work well. Quadraphonics were just beginning to be experimented with late in Gould’s life; all he had was stereo, but he would surely have wanted to explore the possibilities of today’s hi-res surround sound!
– John Sunier
