Glenn Gould (1932-1982) was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His first piano teacher was his mother. A Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg was his great grand father's cousin. From the age of 10, he attended the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he studied piano, organ, and theory with Alberto Guerrero, Frederick C. Silvester, and Leo Smith respectively.
His first recording includes works of
Berg, Shostakovich, Taneyev, Prokofiev, Mozart, and Bach.
He also recoded 5 piano concertos by Beethoven released by Sony in October 1992.
His first public performance was on the organ in 1945. His first performance with an orchestra was Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 with Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1946.His first recital on radio was with the CBC in 1950. This was the beginning of his long association with radio and recording.
In 1957, Gould's tour to the Soviet Union made him the first North Amirican to play there since World War II. His concerts featured works by Bach, Beethoven, Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. Live In Leningard 1957 featrues Bach Piano Concerto No. 1 and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2.
His 1957 trip to Russia had a long-lasting effect on the performer and his audiences, and would influence future generations of Russian musicians. Along with new facts and details about Gould’s visit, this program features original Moscow and Leningrad recordings of Gould’s concerts, including the unreleased recording of Gould’s lecture/recital at the Leningrad Conservatory. Also featured are previously unknown, unreleased documents and photographs of Gould’s trip, many from his ‘confidential’ file in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
He performed Goldberg Variation and Three-Part Inventions for tours released under the title Live in Salzburg & Moscow.
He recorded a number of Bach keyboard works and other major composers.
Gould's last public performance was on April 10, 1964 at Wilshire Ebell Theater, Los Angeles. Among the pieces he performed that night were Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 30, Op. 109, selections from Bach, the unfinished The Art of Fugue (BWV 1080), and the Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 92 No. 4 by Ernst Krenek. Later he focused on recording, writing, and broadcasting. He died of storke in Toronto in 1982. He was buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
In 2002, Sony released his 70th Aniversary Edition.
