Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould (September 25, 1932 - October 4, 1982) was a Canadian pianist and composer, world famous as an interpreter of Johann Sebastian Bach's piano and keyboard works. A child prodigy, Gould was praised for his ability to perform and memorize compositions flawlessly. At the same time, he was also seen as an eccentric, often humming, singing and gesticulating along while playing piano, even on recordings. He had specific rituals that needed to be in order, like having the studio heated at specific temperature, the piano set at a certain height and preferred to use the exact same chair his father had made. Gould also preferred studio recordings over live concerts. His neurotic behavior remains the source for much speculation, with some music historians and psychologists having claimed he was an autist, a hypochondriac, bipolar, asexual and/or had dystonia.
In 1977, Carl Sagan included Gould's rendition of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier on the Voyager Golden Record, a special record sent into outer space featuring sounds and music that would give potential extraterrestrials an idea of life on Earth.
Frank Zappa and Glenn Gould
"lf you know where the melody is going to go, how long it takes to get there and what it's going to do when it gets there, then why bother to listen to it," he says. He makes an exception of Bach, but only if it's played by Glenn Gould, because he "twists the stuff so that at least there's a question mark inserted into the composition". Gould's "mutation" renders it tolerable for Zappa to listen to." (Nigel Leigh in Zappa Plays On)
