"A State of Wonder"

WARNING: This review is light-hearted, whimsical, and often passionate. If you are easily offended, delete this message. No animals were harmed in the writing of this review. There is absolutely NO mention of Dell anywhere on this page.

Being as opinionated as I am, I occasionally run into the odd time when I happen to make a mistake, a slight oversight, a misjudgment or perhaps even a major faux pas (trust me, asking a woman if she's pregnant when she's not is a mistake you will only make once in your life). That's the price you pay for having an opinion.

When I first heard Sony was coming out with a 3-CD compilation of Gould's Goldbergs, I thought to myself, "Here we go again". The good old Sony Marketing Machine, re-hashing old material for new profit. A re-release of the '55 Golbergs (again!), coupled with the '81 Goldbergs (again!), with the only new material being an analytical interview (more of a scripted play, really) performed by Tim Page with Glenn Gould. Actually, this interview (entitled "Take Two: The Goldbergs Revisited"), although not available in North America or Europe, is (or was) available on a Sony CD in Japan, and thanks to the kind favours of a good friend, I already have a copy of this. So in other words, nothing new.

So instead of camping outside Sony's headquarters in a tent the night before the release of this new CD set as I had wanted to do (my wife nixed that idea), I decided to wait. I'll buy it one day, I thought, but I'm not going to rush out and throw down some of my hard-earned money for some recycled CDs. Maybe I'll bid on a secondhand copy on eBay.

The first CD appears to be the re-release of the '55 version, nothing more. But, if you have never heard it before, this is like having the Holy Grail of Gould right before you, so I can understand the need to re-release it. On the off chance that there is a human being on this planet that hasn't heard the '55 version, here it is in all its virtuosic fire, whirlwind emotion, and spritual glory. This CD is more than required listening for Gould fans, it is the genetic building blocks from which the Gould legend was created. I argue about this with my father all the time, but if there was one disc I could take with me to another planet, it would be this one.

The second CD is the '81 Goldbergs. But wait! As has already been mentioned, the original '81 version was recorded and mastered in Digital. But the engineers astutely recorded the sessions also on analog tape, and this version is re-mastered from these tapes. And the difference is phenomenal. The sound of the infamous Yamaha is now smoother and more mellow, evoking pleasant feelings of the Count himself playing away wistfully in the background on a cold winter's night, warming himself by the fire of Bach's phenomenal genius. Like a 25-year old Burgundy that was discovered in the cellar and opened for the first time, this CD is amazing and new, yet still somehow comfortably familiar with a lingering aftertaste that you've come to love. As surely as you would savour the Burgundy and make it last, swishing it around your mouth until the very last drop, you will love this new release of the '81 Goldbergs.

Then, we have the third CD - the one that makes me grovel in my humility and offer abject apologies to Sony. It contains two gems, the afore-mentioned Tim Page interview, and some "out-takes" from the '55 recording session. As most people have probably not heard the Tim Page interview, allow me to say that as Page seemed to be one of Gould's few real confidantes, this interview (although of course, entirely scripted and "produced" by his Gould-ness), is amazing. It not only has really intense, yet eminently understandable, analytical content (Gould and Page analyzing the different versions using stopwatch and calculator), but also a real sense of comfortableness and friendship between these two peers. Page plays the foil to Gould's masterminded dialogue admirably, and yet still manages to interject his own unique viewpoints. And for those of us that like the actor in Gould, he does have a little fun with "Sir John", the film actor who never actually goes to see his own pictures, don't you know. Lots of fun.

And finally, the '55 session out-takes. This offers an absolutely fascinating insight into the persona that is Gould, who, even at 23, was so eminently in control of the recording session. There are several practice run-throughs of the some of the variations (usually at an even faster pace than the final recorded product!), one out-take where Gould plays only the left hand of a variation to test the keyboard, and several minutes of playful banter where Gould lectures the unsuspecting producer.

And then the diamond in the rough, the story I had heard rumours about but never actually heard, the "piece de resistance" of this set: Glenn Gould's own words ringing out... "By the way, I have a quodlibet of my own, that came to me in the bathtub the other day...". And then he proceeds to play his own specially modulated rendition of God Save the Queen melting into the Star Spangled Banner ("One of these times I'm going to be invited to perform a concert on the 4th of July, I'm sure"). What else can I say, other than this is a brilliant insight into the brilliant mind that is Glenn Gould.

So to Sony: I apologize. No, I do better than that, I beg your forgiveness and throw myself at your kindness and mercy. And oh, by the way, if you have any other out-takes of any other recording sessions, please release them. I'm desperate - I'll take anything ("Glenn Gould brushing his teeth at Lake Simcoe - take one").

I should make a small admission here - I haven't actually purchased the set yet, these observations are all from listening. The price is right, there are probably excellent liner notes (especially if Tim Page contributed to them), hopefully some decent biographical data, maybe even a fancy jewel case. Who knows. I don't really care. I can't read the liner notes in my car, but I can exalt in this CD collection, which in my not so humble opinion is perfectly suitable for a 70th anniversay celebration, a celebration of the Legend that is Gould.

"A State of Wonder" - A Review