born Sept. 25, 1932, Toronto, Ont., Can.
died Oct. 4, 1982, Toronto
Canadian pianist.
The acclaim that greeted Gould's first recording of Bach 's Goldberg Variations (1955) led him to abandon his interest in composition and to instead develop an international career as a pianist. His interpretations of Bach (and occasionally of other composers) set a new standard with their technical brilliance and subtle intelligence. Famously eccentric, he often wore gloves while playing and was intensely hypochondriac. Never happy performing, in 1964 he left the concert stage forever for the recording studio. He later composed radio "documentaries" (including The Idea of North ) that fall somewhere between typical examples of the genre and musique concrète .