No big deal.

In reply to this comment by jbaber:
I meant "glenn gould style" but ran out of characters. I wasn't trying to mislead, I promise!

I meant "glenn gould style" but ran out of characters. I wasn't trying to mislead, I promise!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'incredible, wet yourself, show me the hands, glenn gould, piano, prokofiev' to 'incredible, wet yourself, show me the hands, tamara beraia, piano, 2006, prokofiev' - edited by dystopianfuturetoday

In reply to this comment by Deano:
*promote

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In reply to this comment by siftbot:
Successfully processed your "amazon" invocation - view all Amazonized posts here

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Made an embeddable Playlist out of all 5 clips here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E70F0AC8AFC57FA9

Feel free to swap it in

In reply to this comment by maudlin:
All 5 parts are available on YouTube (for now):

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

More Goldberg Variations. A veritable hen's tooth!

See more here: http://www.videosift.com/video/glenn-gould-plays-bachs-goldberg-variations-26-30-aria

Sony (who acquired CBS Records or Columbia, if you remember back in the days of LPs) released reams of Glenn Gould video performances on VHS and laser disc as part of the Glenn Gould Edition back in the 90s. I picked up the laser discs for a song at various record stores around the country right when DVDs were coming out. Needless to say, these haven't been re-released.

Watching this performance of the Goldberg Variations is a religious experience of sorts, although the jarring camera angle shifts do eventually get old. The CBC started recording Gould for broadcast on TV back in the 50s, and these performances, ones that could not be edited for perfection show just how talented he was.

Also, Gould didn't give up live performances because of his nerves. Rather, he simply hated live performances and wrote and commented on this extensively. He felt that the whole experience was degrading and that being in front of an audience was an impediment to presenting his ideal vision of a work. Tape and the recording studio explicitly enabled this.

One little bit of trivia about this performance: Gould's usual piano was a Steinway (CD 318), but it was irreparably damaged during transit when some movers dropped it. He made a trip to the Ostrovsky Piano Company in NYC to find a new instrument, but didn't find any that he liked. Before leaving through a back corridor, he spotted a much used Yamaha that no one wanted him to play. Needless to say, he tried the instrument and the rest is history. It's the piano he plays in this recording.