The prerequisite of contrapuntal art, more conspicuous in the work of Bach than in that of any other composer, is an ability to conceive a priori of melodic identities which when transposed, inverted, made retrograde, or transformed rhythmically will yet… — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
Theirs [the Beatles] is a happy, cocky, belligerently resourceless brand of harmonic primitivism... In the Liverpudlian repertoire, the indulged amateurishness of the musical material, though closely rivaled by the indifference of the performing style, is actually surpassed only by the ineptitude of the studio production method. (Strawberry Fields suggests a chance encounter at a mountain wedding between Claudio Monteverdi and… — Glenn Gould Copy Share
I cannot bear assaults of any kind, and it seems to me that the Beatles essentially were out to affront and to assault. — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
Whenever one honestly defies a tradition, one becomes, in reality, the more responsible to it. — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
Beethoven's reputation is based entirely on gossip. The middle Beethoven represents a supreme example of a composer on an ego trip. — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
I detest audiences - not in their individual components, but en masse I detest audiences. I think they're a force of evil. It seems… — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
Chopin, Schubert, and Liszt had no idea of how to write for the piano. — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
“I believe that the justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men and not its shallow, externalized, public… — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
Concert pianists are really afraid to try out the Beethoven Fourth Concerto if the Third happens to be their specialty. That's the piece they… — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
When I broke 20, I said to myself, 'I will give concerts until I'm approximately 30.' And I made it a year and a… — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
By the time I was six, I made an important discovery that I get along much better with animals than humans. — Glenn Gould Copy Share Image
