Amazon.com
Peter Ostwald, who died shortly after completing this sensitive analysis of the legendary Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932-82), is one of those rare biographers equally qualified to assess his subject's artistry and psychology. Founder of the Health Program for Performing Artists, the psychiatrist-author was also Gould's friend for 20 years. Lucid prose captures Gould's formidable, unconventional virtuosity and unmasks a deeply troubled man who was uncomfortable with audiences, fearful of human contact, and able to maintain relationships only when he was in complete control. The eccentricities and the genius, as Ostwald persuasively demonstrates, were inextricably intertwined.
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe:
Gebundene Ausgabe
.
The late Peter Ostwald's masterful psychobiography of eccentric Canadian pianist Glenn Gould (1932^-82) captures the musician's struggles with performance anxiety, hypochondria, and the burden of genius. Ostwald, a psychiatrist and violinist, was a close friend and confidant for 25 years. From the time that Gould burst upon the U.S. musical scene with his 1955 recording of Bach's
Goldberg Variations, he constructed a public persona that quickly attained cult status. His eccentricities during performances are well known. He sat on a rickety wooden chair made for him by his father, with the piano elevated on wooden blocks so that his arms stretched straight out in front of him. He often hummed or sang the melody and ecstatically undulated his upper body to its tempo. His unusual interpretations of classical compositions were both brilliant and shocking. After he retired from the concert stage in 1964, Gould applied his genius to radio, TV, and film documentaries. Written during the last year of Ostwald's life while he was suffering from terminal cancer, the book is as much a tribute to his courage as it is to Gould's talent.
George Eberhart
-- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe:
Gebundene Ausgabe
.