Why 32 films? Few classical performers are so closely linked to one particular piece of music as Canadian pianist Glenn Gould was to Johann Sebastian Bach's “Goldberg Variations.” When Gould was asked to join Columbia Records’ roster of classical artists, he was asked what music he wanted to record first, and the Goldberg Variations topped his list. The landmark album was released in 1955. A photographer was sent to get some shots for the cover, and Gould was so photogenic it was easy for the cameraman to get plenty of shots. Since there are 30 variations – there were 30 photos of Gould on the front of the album. Now, when you add the aria that starts and finishes the piece, the producers of the film came up with 32.
Newly available on Criterion 4K and Blu-ray, the premise of “Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould” is interesting. We get 32 snapshots that sum up a complicated artist, and Gould's many idiosyncrasies are on full display. Taking the first portrait, he pretty much dressed as if he were on an arctic expedition: hat, gloves, muffler and coat (he would wear these year round). Was he cold, or did Gould wear all this clothing as a knight wore a suit of armor for protection? For someone who craved warmth, why did Gould, a Canadian, maintain his predilection for the Great White North? On his bucket list was the desire to spend several months in an area of ice and snow, and that is how this film starts: with Glenn Gould in an Arctic landscape, walking slowly towards the camera. We hear the wind and the crunch of snow and below that, a piano, barely audible. When the piano is clearer we recognize it as the aria that starts the “Goldberg Variations.” The arctic setting is familiar to Gould fans: a famous 1970 album depicts Gould all bundled up on the cover photo, in the same icy environment. What is the music on the disc? Gould's three least favorite Beethoven's piano sonatas. More Gouldian humor!
Each portrait in this feature is a facet of Gould, some interesting and about the music, and others about the artist himself. The third film is titled "Forty-Five Seconds and a Chair." It features Gould sitting in an expensive-looking chair, fingers interlaced; he is staring at us. The Two part invention No. 13 starts as the camera moves in. Playing Glenn Gould is the actor Colm Feore, who possesses an intimidating stare. The first film I saw Feore in was "The Chronicles of Riddick," where he played the absolute ruler of the Underverse. In a way, it is appropriate that this actor was chosen; Gould was the "decider" in his own universe. When Gould met the composer Igor Stravinsky, he was asked by the composer to play his piano concerto—and Gould refused the offer.
Glenn Gould could be exasperating, and this is amply displayed in the fifth short film, "Gould meets Gould." I remember reading an article by the pianist in the magazine "High Fidelity" back in 1970s, portraying the hard-working journalist as "gg" and the hard-to-pin-down concert pianist "GG." The article was many pages long and a frustrating read. The editors cut the film version down quite a bit, and that helps. It is hard to think of Gould's music being a backdrop to be talked over. The Prelude of the English Suite #5 is the victim here. Once Gould earned his spurs with Columbia Records, he took personal charge of his publicity and published interviews where he wrote out the questions and the witty answers. The best of these media exercises was "Glenn Gould: Concert Dropout," with John McClure playing the interviewer.
One of the most exciting portraits is "Hamburg,” featuring the second movement of Beethoven's E-flat sonata. If there is a better performance of this piece, I haven't heard it, and I have looked for it! Gould's performances are amazing thanks to what Gould termed "creative cheating." I have several live recordings of Gould, and it is what we get on his CBS records, but the music is better after the "cheating" process: like running champagne though a still and concentrating it. Gould was known as a great editor, and after he leaned the art of editing, he did much of the work on his and some other CBS artists' recordings.
One of the most harrowing portraits is "Pills," featuring some of Gould's extensive collection of drugs. Actor Feore reads the side effects of each drug pictured and the contraindications. Then we see the drug that was contraindicated and so on and so on. Gould was seeing several doctors (and getting what he wanted) and would dose himself as the need arose.
Nearing the end of the feature now, considering the lack of exercise, the drugs and the pianist's poor diet it is not surprising that Glenn Gould did not have a long life. This film has bookends just like “Goldberg Variations.” The finale portrait is again, "Aria." He had been with CBS for 25 years and released an anniversary album with some movements "in the can," and a second disc devoted to a "Glenn Gould Fantasy." Where he plays a concert on an oil drilling platform in the arctic, when he finishes, you hear the barks of appreciation from a few seals. Another bookend was his second recording of the Goldberg variations, coming out in 1981. The printing on the back of the album was bordered in black as if it was for the text in a funeral booklet. Gould lived another year.
Glenn Gould was a pianist plus. He liked really old and very modern music. He was indifferent to the Romantic composers most of this contemporaries played. Gould was a published composer, and he had a radio career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Gould was influenced by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt in one aspect. Liszt retired from the concert stage at 35 – his concert de steeplechase was over - the great romantic spent his time composing and teaching, and he developed into a first rate conductor. Gould had similar aspirations when he retired from concertizing at the age of 32. Whereas Liszt gave over a thousand concerts in 8 years, Gould's output was fewer than 200 concerts. However, Gould had a rare distinction that few artists could attain: his music representing planet Earth. But, you will have to watch the film to get that information.
SPECIAL FEATURES (reviewed by Nathan Cone)
This brand new edition of “Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould” includes several new features that are sure to thrill fans of the artist as well as the film itself. First of all, the movie has been newly scanned and mastered in 4K for this Criterion Collection presentation, rendering a breathtaking image and enveloping 5.1 sound mix. A new audio commentary features director François Girard and co-writer/actor Don McKellar, and there’s also a 30-minute video conversation between Girard and fellow Canadian director, Atom Egoyan. Other short interviews on the disc include lead actor Colm Feore, and producer Niv Fichman, who joyfully shares that he set up his production company in the hopes of getting a movie about Glenn Gould made.
Most fascinating among all the features is a pair of CBC-produced documentaries shot in 1959 as Gould was recording what would be his tenth album for Columbia records. The two films, “Off the Record” and “On the Record,” offer a glimpse into Gould’s life in Canada and recording process in a New York studio, where he performs Bach’s “Italian Concerto” and lunches with the engineers, enjoying tea (and a little booze) along the way. Gould offers his thoughts on life in and outside the concert hall, and shares that he finds it terrifying to attend performance by other artists because of how nervous it makes him, mentally placing himself onstage in their shoes. Five years after the CBC documentary, Gould gave his final concert appearance, depicted poignantly in the film as “The L.A. Concert,” as the artist signs a program for the theater manager, noting this would be the last concert program he’d ever sign. Thereafter, Gould devoted himself to the art of recording.
