An artistic portrait of Glenn Gould based on the analysis of his recordings of “The Goldberg Variations” by Johann Sebastian Bach from 1955 and 1981. Part 1
The article presents the profile of Glenn Gould, one of the most prominent and popular pianists of the 20th century, whose great career was closely connected with his two recordings of The Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. The first recording dated 1955 became his ticket to international fame whereas the second one (from 1981) is one of his last recordings, so it sort of symbolises the end of his musical adventure. A very interesting fact is that these two recordings are very different – both in terms of interpretation and performance. The first part of the article focuses on the biography of the Canadian pianist and it attempts to answer the question what happened in Glenn Gould’s life that might make him change his approach towards The Goldberg Variations and such diversified attitude towards music. Apart from that, it describes Gould’s style and his unusual musical preferences. The second part of the article presents the origin and characterisation of The Goldberg Variations as this piece includes numerous references to symbolism and numerology, which for ages has been a subject of interest of not only performers and audiences, but also scholars. The article presents the circumstances how The Variations (which constitute the fourth part of the Clavier Übung cycle) as well as other parts were written. It also touches on the construction and division of that piece plus two interesting yet controversial 19th century theories connected with The Variations.