Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was born Glen Gold on September 25, 1932, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His mother was a great-grand niece of Edvard Grieg. Young Gould was playing with piano from the age of 3, and started regular lessons with his mother from the age of 4. At the age of 10 Gould was admitted to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where his piano teacher was Alberto Guerrero.

In 1946 Gould, then only 13 years old, successfully performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

He made his first recording with the CBC in 1950, and gradually came to liking the studio environment better that a live performance to an audience. Glenn Gould was touring with concert performances until the age of 31. He was the first performer from North America to play in the Soviet Union since the Second World War.

His 1957 tour became possible because Nikita Khrushchev initiated the "Thaw" amidst the Cold War. Gould's concerts featured Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. He was also allowed to perform the music of Arnold Schönberg, and Alban Berg which was previously under the ban by Soviet censorship. Gould reciprocated by popularizing the music of Dmitri Shostakovich in the West.

Was known to simply not show up for concerts when he was the featured soloist. Bernstein took note of this in 1962 when he began his public disclaimer of Gould's interpretation of the Brahms concerto with "Don't be frightened. Mr. Gould is here, will appear in a moment".

In April 1964, Gould gave his last public performance in Los Angeles, California. For the rest of his life Gould devoted his career to recording, writing, and broadcasting.

His Grammy awarded 1981 studio recording of 'Goldberg Variations', as well, as his other recordings of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, are widely considered as definitive. Gould was posthumously awarded another Grammy for his recording of Piano sonatas Nos. 12 and 13 by Ludwig van Beethoven. His unusual and inspirational interpretations of classical repertoire were criticized by some and acclaimed by many.

Inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998 (charter member).

He refused to play Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy and much of the other core piano repertoire, deriding their masterpieces as empty theatrical gestures. He especially disliked Mozart, and named the obscure 17th century English composer Orlando Gibbons as his all-time favorite.