The figure is shown holding holding the manuscript to BWV 1076, which is also the thirteenth canon in the Goldberg Canon cycle. Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, 1746, by Elias Gotlob Houssmann. The people at Columbia tried to dissuade Gould, but he had already decided. He chose to record the “Goldberg Variations,” an obscure work then, judged impossible even by Bach scholar, Albert Schweitzer. In June 1955, the Canadian pianist, only 22, recorded his debut album at Columbia Records 30th Street studio in Manhattan, New York, in only four days. Then, he would play, hunched over his piano, often altering the tempo of pieces and humming along, as was the case with the “Goldberg Variations.” Wherever he would play, he would bring his battered chair, and warm his hands in a hot water basin before he performed. No matter what the weather, he wore an overcoat and gloves. Referred to as a genius by the press, Gould perfectly fit the eccentric genius character with his reclusive personality and habits. The battered chair of pianist Glenn Gould, which he carried with him to perform. No one could have predicted that his two recordings of Bach’s notoriously difficult work, almost 30 years apart, would not only make him internationally famous, but also change the scope of classical music forever. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” it is impossible not to think of Glenn Gould’s interpretations. From the first notes you hear of any performance of J.S.
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