Glenn Gould sm

While Glenn Gould was a pianist who performed the works of many composers, his name is inextricably linked to that of Johann Sebastian Bach. More than any other composer, Bach was Gould's speciality. From his first recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1955 to his final recording, again of the Goldberg Variations in 1981, Gould recorded nearly all of Bach's keyboard music.

The Glenn Gould Complete Jacket Collection" is presented to mark the brilliant pianist's 75th birthday and the 25th anniversary of his death. It is a fascinating, limited edition: all the artist's LP recordings in the "look and feel" of the original vinyl discs on 80 CDs.

The Glenn Gould Complete Jacket Collection" is presented to mark the brilliant pianist's 75th birthday and the 25th anniversary of his death. It is a fascinating, limited edition: all the artist's LP recordings in the "look and feel" of the original vinyl discs on 80 CDs.

While Glenn Gould was a pianist who performed the works of many composers, his name is inextricably linked to that of Johann Sebastian Bach. More than any other composer, Bach was Gould's speciality. From his first recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1955 to his final recording, again of the Goldberg Variations in 1981, Gould recorded nearly all of Bach's keyboard music.

This remarkable set, culled from the archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during the early years in which Glenn Gould emerged as a major classical pianist (1951–55), packages together five discs previously issued singly between 1994 and 1999. The only new CD in the collection is the second Bach disc, which features typically scintillating performances of the Partita No. 5, Three-Part Inventions, Italian Concerto , and the Concerto in D Minor. Of the various discs here, the only one to contain works not issued commercially by Columbia-CBS-Sony is the second Beethoven CD (originally released in 1997 as CBC 2013).

Although Glenn Gould embraced a wider repertoire than most music lovers realize, his reputation primarily rests with Bach, and in particular, the 1955 and 1981 Goldberg Variations recordings that essentially demarcate his international recording career. To honor what would have been Gould’s 80th birthday in 2012, along with the 30th anniversary of his untimely death in 1982 at age 50, Sony/BMG releases its most comprehensive Gould/Bach collection to date. Its 38 CDs and six DVDs include just about every studio or live Bach recording by Gould previously issued under the Sony Classical banner.