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Glenn
Gould (19321982)
Tune written when eight years old 1940
Courtesy of the Estate of Glenn Gould and
the National Library of Canada
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Glenn
Gould
19321982
Glenn
Gould was a famous Canadian classical pianist
who, by the age of 23, was filling concert halls
with audiences eager to hear his interpretations
of the works of composers such as Bach, Beethoven
and Schoenberg. He received international acclaim
performing in Europe, and was the first pianist
from North America to perform in the Soviet Union.
Gould's interest in music was highly developed
at an early age, as is shown by this manuscript,
written when he was eight years old.
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Glenn
Gould (19321982)
Transcript of Siegfried Idyll II
1973
Courtesy of the Estate of Glenn Gould and
the National Library of Canada
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Gould's
transcription of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll
for piano continued a nineteenth-century tradition
which took advantage of the ready availability
of pianos to bring versions of orchestral works
to a wider audience. His transcription gives us
insight into his processes of thinking about the
piano. Richard Wagner wrote the Siegfried Idyll
for a small orchestra to celebrate the birthday
of his wife Cosima in 1870, and the title refers
to their son Siegfried. The manuscript displayed
is Glenn Gould's second draft of his transcription
of this work for piano, and he recorded it with
a small orchestra in 1982, shortly before his
death.
Gould's
meticulous approach to recording and editing is
shown in his notes on the manuscript. The numbers
refer to alternate versions of the recordings.
Gould's normal procedure was to record a complete
movement, or a long section of a movement, several
times, trying different tempi, articulations and
phrasing. These were the ‘takes’. Then he would
re-record brief passages he wished to modify or
correct (the ‘inserts’) so that they could be
spliced into the longer ‘takes’. In the number
‘22/36’, the first ‘2’ means ‘take’
and the second ‘2’ means ‘insert’; number ‘3’
means ‘take’ and number ‘6’ means ‘insert’. It
is believed that his preference was for the first
group of numbers in each case.
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