Re: GG: Sound recording resources?

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

On Mon, 1 Jun 1998, T.R. Thiessen wrote:

>     There is an excellent book by Glenn Gould's producer of thirty years,
> whose name escapes me at the moment.  They recorded together, at marathon
> sessions, for years, both in the studio in New York, and later in the
> abandoned level of Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto.  The book title is known
> as "Glenn Gould at Work."  Makes for an interesting read, especially with
> respect to Gould's then unconventional methods.  It goes into great detail of
> all the columbia recordings, "slaughterhouse five", and all aspects of
> production.
>     The equipment aspect is discussed at great length.  I will check my CBC
> documentaries and get the name of the author to you.  Also good is "The Glenn
> Gould Reader, which I suspect you may have found "Prospects for Recording" in,
> anyway.
> I'll get back to you.

This book is:  "Glenn Gould at Work (Creative Lying)"
and the author is Andrew Kazdin, who was GG's producer/engineer between
about 1965 and 1980.  It has been out-of-print some time, but you might
still be able to scare up a copy using some of the online resources.

This book is probably the best available for insights into how the GG
recordings were done (equipment, set-up, procedures, etc.).  Depsite the
author's strong negative bias toward Gould, they did have a very close
working relationship over a long period and produced some very successful
recordings.  I think it's a must read for GG fans.

Folks interested in the recording process will also want to get a hold of
Glenn Gould: On The Record/Off The Record, two 30 min. films made by the
NFB in 1960.  The On the Record film has lots of in-studio footage and
great shots of the old 30th St. Columbia facility.  For this session,
Gould is recording the Italian Concerto with the *new* stereo technology.

jh