August 6, 2015 – Toronto, ON — In 1955 Glenn Gould signed an exclusive contract with Columbia Masterworks, and remained with the label until his untimely death in 1982. Gould’s first release, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, took the music world by storm, and immediately established the 22-year-old Canadian pianist as one of the most brilliant, original, charismatic and provocative classical performers of his time. Sixty years later, Gould’s prolific recorded output remains a stimulating presence. Now a completely remastered limited edition from Sony Classical, containing all the authorized Columbia recordings on 78 audio CDs, allows him to resound with greater fidelity to the originals than ever before.
The first generation of Gould’s recordings were available on magnetic tape in the Columbia archives, permitting us to ensure maximum sonic authenticity by applying the high-resolution Direct Stream Digital procedure (DSD). Moreover, in one of the most lavish remastering projects of all time, the listening conditions in the studio were so elaborate that the recordings could be heard there with less distortion and greater clarity than Gould himself was accustomed to when listening to his takes.
The Glenn Gould Remastered – The Complete Album Collection box set also contains a 416-page book with complete original liner notes (many penned by Gould himself), a wealth of facsimile documents, rare photographs, full discographical information, and a newly commissioned introductory essay by Gould scholar and biographer Kevin Bazzana. Three further CDs contain interviews and spoken commentary from Gould himself.
Moreover, Glenn Gould Remastered will be released simultaneously on USB stick in 24-bit/44.1 kHz high resolution and made available for downloading on iTunes in Mastered for iTunes® format. Goulds’s legendary recordings of the Goldberg Variations (1955 and 1981) will also be reissued on audiophile 180g vinyl. For the first time in its history, the 1981 version will be transferred from the newly rediscovered analogue master tape. At long last The Sound of Glenn Gould presents a selection that gathers together the very finest recordings of this great Canadian pianist.
About Glenn Gould
Born in Toronto on September 25, 1932, Gould studied at first with his mother then with Alberto Guerrero at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He began concertizing as a teenager, while his first CBC radio recital in 1950 launched his “love affair with the microphone”. By his late teens Gould’s artistic persona was fully formed. Right at the start he favored unusual programs, with Bach, Byrd, Gibbons, Sweelinck, Haydn and Beethoven on one side, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Hindemith on the other, broaching the Romantics selectively. In 1957 Gould became the first North American to perform in the Soviet Union since World War II. After less than a decade of international concertizing, Gould retired from the stage at 31 in 1964 to focus on recording, television work, creating innovative radio documentaries, and writing articles and essays.
