Grammys

[digitS']

Mary, I am not even famous by proximity. I've never been to Ontario, 30 years ago nor more recently :/.

I keep saying my "mom's cousin" because that gets me a little closer. Actually, her cousin was Glenn's father . . . what does that make me ?

My grandfather was born in Quebec and lived for awhile as a child near Toronto before his family moved to British Columbia. However, only the younger children (grandfather included) came to BC and the older brother(s) stayed in Ontario.

My grandfather died when I was a little kid. Glenn was real young then also. Glenn didn't live very long and died at age 50. I never met him.

Steve

 

[digitS']

A TEG crowd, might enjoy this article in "Modern Dog" magazine: "The Dogs of Pianist Glenn Gould (click)."

It really captures a little of what I know about his personality in a nice long article by someone who admired him and his gift of 1/2 of his estate to the Toronto Humane Society. I like how the author says that rescuing strays from "the streets around the old CBC broadcasting studios in downtown Toronto) stand in counterpoint to Gould's rather unfairly rendered reputation as an eccentric." LOL!

She then goes on to tell something about his eccentricity .

If you want a little touch of his music, go ahead and click on those music links on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_gould#Recordings

If you'd like 47 minutes, I listened to it again last night, search youtube for Bach, The Goldberg Variations by Glenn Gould. He won a grammy for that recording also, many years ago. I kind of want you to listen but don't watch the youtube video. He was very eccentric and loved to hum and sing along to his playing. They probably had to be very careful how they did the recording . . . and, that's how he did music in life. He stopped performing in public and did recordings. He made a number of documentaries on Canadian television and was personable on camera as he walked around the countryside and spoke of this or that .

There are Glenn Gould awards in Canada that are made every 3 years. Leonard Cohen won the most recent award.

In anything about him, you often find a picture of his chair. He fell and seriously hurt his back when he was very young. His father made him a special chair and he used it his entire life while playing the piano. His childhood home has been preserved by the city and his chair is part of the exhibits. There is a small park near the CBC studios named for him and then that silly statue of him on the sidewalk back at the studios .

Steve

 

[lesa]

What a fascinating fellow! Thanks for the link. I couldn't agree with him more- I prefer dogs over most people!