GOULD, GLENN. (1932-1982). Celebrated Canadian pianist and composer. Signed Record Album. (“Glenn”). 1p. Large 4to. N.p., February, 1960. The 1960 Columbia Masterworks recording (ML 5418, MS 6096) of Gould performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, with Leonard Bernstein & the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, signed and inscribed “For Verna to stay home with” (his girlfriend VERNA SANDERCOCK [later POST], 1932-?; secretary to Gould’s manager Walter Homburger).

“Since 1947, when he first publicly performed Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto at fourteen, Glenn Gould continually amazed and astonished audiences, critics, and professional colleagues alike. He was called a musician of ‘divine guidance’ and the greatest pianist since Busoni,” (Conversations with Glenn Gould, Cott). Eschewing the music of the Romantic composers, Gould became known for his interpretations of Beethoven and Bach, notably The Goldberg Variations, as well as his many personal eccentricities and dislikes.

Sandercock studied singing at the Regina Conservatory where she saw Gould from afar but did not meet him until she began working for Homburger in 1958. By 1959, her relationship with Gould was a romantic one, although the very private Gould concealed it from the public as well as Verna’s employer. In 1958, Gould penned a romantic letter asking her to come on tour with him but, contradictorily, “Gould would not allow Sandercock to actually attend his concerts. And if his concert was at Massey Hall or some other venue in Toronto, Gould would have the audacity to ask her to leave town. In 1960, Sandercock was prevented from flying to Vancouver for his performance with the Vancouver Festival Orchestra, but Gould went a step further. According to Post, ‘He phoned me from backstage and said, “I just realized they’re broadcasting this concert. Turn off your radio!” On another occasion in Stratford, Ontario, Sandercock had already bought a ticket when Gould ordered her out of town, leaving hers as the only empty seat in the auditorium,” (The Secret Life of Glenn Gould: A Genius in Love, Clarkson). By 1960, Gould had also requested that Homburger not be present for his performances and “eventually Sandercock had to send Gould a telegram: ‘I, Verna Sandercock of the city of Toronto, hereby swear that in future I shall not be a member of a visual or listening audience of any Glen [sic] Gould performance without his specific sanction. Signed, Your affectionate Hex.’ From then on, she had to listen to his records and tapes. ‘It was sad, crazy’ she said. But they stayed together,” (ibid.).

By the time Gould recorded the present album, “critics had evidently made their peace with Gould’s wayward readings of Beethoven. His recording of the C-minor Concerto, again with Leonard Bernstein, met with general approval, even if Gould ‘yields more to his own nature than he should in the Largo’ and ‘meanders and rhapsodizes without thinking that this movement, too, is by Beethoven,’” (glenngould.com/music/beethoven-piano-concerto-no-3-in-c-minor-op-37/). In 1962, Bernstein famously slighted Gould by alluding to his unpredictability prior to playing with the New York Philharmonic and disavowing any responsibility for their performance, during which Gould insisted on playing the first movement of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto at half the written tempo.

In 1964, Gould gave up live appearances altogether to focus on studio recordings and other interests. “In addition to his recording career, Gould made a number of pathbreaking programs of ‘contrapuntal radio’ for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporations (using voices in trio sonata form and employing the sounds of a train and the sea as a basso continuo); narrated and performed on – and was the subject of – innumerable radio and television programs; and arranged music for several shorts and feature films,” (op. cit., Cott). His illustrious career was cut short by his early death at age 50.

If Verna was not permitted to see Gould play in person, at least she had the record album! Both the LP and the record sleeve appear to be in fine condition. Rare.