Gould’s Mind
February 18th, 2008 by Steve BowbrickThis really marvelous show sent me off into a kind of radio nerd reverie. It’s an Archive Hour programme by British experimental radio legend Piers Plowright about Canadian piano legend Glenn Gould and his strange and fascinating radio career. One of my most treasured CDs is a three disc set featuring three of Gould’s CBC docs: The Idea of North, The Latecomers and The Quiet in The Land. On the show you’ll hear clips from these and lots of other shows, including his notorious meditation on Petula Clark. Yes, Petula Clark. Also lots of quirky, brilliant Gould (was he autistic? I think so) and some good anecdotes (like the one about the carphone). Need I say more? No (MP3).
The CD set, which is called The Solitude Trilogy, is very expensive at amazon but I notice there are a few second-hand copies listed too and also another cheaper CD of clips from his other docs that I haven’t heard. UPDATE: and another 5-CD set which appears to be definitive.
And while I’m linking, here’s a lovely Plowright interview about ‘the innovative feature’ from The University of Pennsylvania’s Ubu web site.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
A really enjoyable documentary - thanks for posting it. Caught a little bit on saturday and just listened to the rest now. Nice to find someone else who has the solitude trilogy cd set - it is something to treasure. There’s something magical about those 3 programmes - particularly the idea of north which made a real impression on me when I first heard it
February 20th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
[...] particularly the Solitude Trilogy, about the Far North. Our new best friends in audio, Speechification, dug up this BBC Archive Hour piece by another eccentric radio producer, Brit Piers Plowright, [...]
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:01 am
One of my most treasured CDs is a three disc set featuring three of Gould’s CBC docs: The Idea of North, The Latecomers and The Quiet in The Land.
Radio 3 played all three one night many years ago, in the dead of night, after sn evening devoted to Gould. (1991? Perhaps.) I was captivated.
(I bought my 3-disc copy of the Solitude Trilogy direct from CBC: it’ll work out cheaper, even from Canada. The Radio Artist 5-CD set is actually $CAN3 less.)
Now, one advantage of having satellite radio — beyond the ongoing joy of not having to listen to the local FM dross — is that Gould regularly pops up on CBC Radio 1’s Sirius feed as part of its ‘REWIND’ segment.
February 24th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Hey Nick. Thanks for the tip. I notice that CBC’s ‘Rewind’ segment is also available as a podcast so that means all we have to do is subscribe and wait for the next chunk of Gould to come round!
February 28th, 2008 at 6:57 am
The Rewind podcast is rather selective, alas: one programme a week, and four weeks retained. I’ve not seen any Gould show up, but I have heard it while driving.
(From the podcast: the two-parter in January on the Canadian switch to metric was much fun. And the one in November on the Alaska Highway is just sheer fantastic radio.)
You can understand CBC’s reticence to make its Gould trove available, when it has commercial rights. But as someone just discovering the CBC, rather than growing up with it as I did the BBC, it’s a pity.