Wondrous Strange

In Wondrous Strange, Kevin Bazzana vividly recaptures the life of Glenn Gould, one of the most celebrated pianists of our time. Drawing on twenty years of intensive research, including unrestricted access to Gould's private papers and interviews with scores of friends and colleagues, Bazzana sheds new light on Gould's family history and personal life, placing Gould's distinctive traits--his eccentric interpretations, his garish onstage demeanor, his resistance to convention--against...
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In Wondrous Strange, Kevin Bazzana vividly recaptures the life of Glenn Gould, one of the most celebrated pianists of our time. Drawing on twenty years of intensive research, including unrestricted access to Gould's private papers and interviews with scores of friends and colleagues, Bazzana sheds new light on Gould's family history and personal life, placing Gould's distinctive traits--his eccentric interpretations, his garish onstage demeanor, his resistance to convention--against the backdrop of his religious, upper- middle-class Canadian childhood. Bazzana offers a fresh appreciation of Gould's concert career, as well as his interests away from the piano, from his ambitious but failed effort to be a composer to keen interest in radio and recording technology. Richly illustrated with rare photographs, Wondrous Strange is a superbly written account of one of the most memorable and accomplished musicians of our times.