A startling new portrait of Gould, including never-before-seen material. Glenn Gould’s astonishing recordings deliver that unmistakable jolt of genius to each generation newly discovering the great Canadian pianist. With the support of the Glenn Gould Estate, Peter Goddard draws on his own interviews with Gould and on new, and in some cases overlooked, sources to present a freshly revealing portrait of Gould’s unsettled life, his radical decision to quit concertizing, his career as a radio innovator, and his deep response to the Canadian environment. Sci-fi and hi-fi, hockey and Petula Clark, Elvis, jazz, chess, the Beatles, and sex ― all these inform this exploration of the pianist’s far-reaching imagination. There is even a touching account of the only piano lesson Gould ever gave. This is the perfect gift for anyone new to classical music and those already immersed in it, for those with an interest in Canadian music, in Glenn Gould himself, and in what led to The Goldberg Variations , one of the greatest recordings in music history. Goddard has drawn a comprehensive portrait of the many faces of Gould, from dude to icon, and given us a tour of a life of such protean productivity that one can only be in awe. ― Literary Review of Canada Goddard’s portrait is informative, engaging and full of entertaining nuggets about our country’s classical music genius. ― Winnipeg Free Press Reading Goddard on Gould is like the happy accident of encountering a guy in a bar who can speak with equal ease and authority about pop culture and philosophy, who slides from lowbrow to highbrow in a sentence and who, as it turns out, knew Gould in person and over many years ― The Globe and Mail Perhaps no other Canadian cultural figure who gained international status as an artist remains as elusive as Gould (myth obfuscates as much as it contextualizes), but Goddard tracks him down at the cottage, on stage, and in the studio (real and of Gould’s mind) as none have done before. ― J.A. Wainwright, PhD Brings a new perspective to the subject. ― International Piano Magazine An interesting supplement to the Glenn Gould craze still surrounding us. ― Theatrejones.com We owe Peter Goddard for his informed, insightful, and well-researched insights into a great Canadian thinker. ― The Tyee An interesting personal account of the pianist’s career by one of Canada’s noteworthy music critics … I warmly recommend this book to Gould aficionados. ― CAML Review Peter Goddard (1944–2022) was the music, film, and visual arts critic for the Toronto Star (and a winner of a National Newspaper Award). He is the author of The Sounding , a novel, and multiple musical biographies, including those on Ronnie Hawkins, Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, and the Rolling Stones. Trained as an ethnomusicologist, Peter played piano for rock and blues bands. CHAPTER ONE: THE ENIGMA’S VARIATIONS I often wonder about what people new to Glenn Gould, or those who only know his name, think when they come upon the life-size sculpture of the pianist outside the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto for the first time. Perhaps they wonder what exactly the artist is saying about him as they observe how the afternoon light on the folds of the surface make Gould’s clothing look as sleek as silk. This part of the city is about crowds and conventions and baseball fans and fun and chain restaurants. It’s not designed for thoughtfulness. Still, it’s possible. Me, I can imagine the unthinkable stretches of empty space beyond this point as I hear the trains heading east and west; once that was about all that brought anyone down to this part of town ― the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways. Those who know about such things know that the CN and CP were Canada’s first radio broadcasters and aired the first music show back in the days when the CBC was still on a drawing board. I also think about the father of the jazz great Oscar Peterson, who was once a porter on one of those trains running out of Montreal. I remember also the Festival Express, the mobile Canadian Woodstock with car after car jammed with rock stars and wannabes heading out of town, one great collective raggedy-ass party, going west and even deeper into sixties mythology. Gould and Peterson never played together, although both said they thought about it. But Gould knew about Janis Joplin, who was on the Festival Express. He included her song “Mercedes-Benz” alongside Bach and simple hymns in The Quiet in the Land , his 1977 radio documentary about Mennonite life. I think of my father, stopping a bit west of here with me, so that I could get out of the car to see a bit of the city before I went on to my piano lesson at the Royal Conservatory of Music, then at the corner of College Street and University Avenue, since moved to Bloor Street. Canadian sculptor Ruth Abernethy’s Glenn offers up a solid, hand¬some icon that reminds us that the slumped figure was taller in life than