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This inukshuk stands in front of the Eskimo Museum in Churchill, Manitoba — the destination of the Muskeg Express train mentioned in Glenn Gould’s
radio documentary “The Idea of North.” An inukshuk is meant to stand as a navigational guide and a marker of human presence
within the stark isolation of the North, an element Gould explores in his piece.
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The music man
It has been 50 years since Glenn Gould sat down at a piano in a former Manhattan church for
four days to record Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” his debut recording. Those
four days created a piece that would bring him international acclaim and would set Gould on
the road towards becoming a legend.
In 1955, at the age of 22, Gould was already the gifted eccentric the world would soon
come to know. The originality of his interpretation of Bach’s composition achieved
popular and critical success. His status as a pop idol helped introduce classical music
and Bach’s work to an entire generation.
Twenty-six years later, in 1981, in the same Manhattan studio, Gould recorded an entirely
different interpretation of Bach’s piece that had made him famous, making it the
only piece he would ever rerecord. He saw the new interpretation as more dignified and
respectful to the piece. The second recording was released only a few months before Gould
died of a stroke at age 50 on October 4, 1982.
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