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Glenn Gould hams it up

Broadcast Date: Aug. 26, 1977

Despite his reputation as a solitary, reclusive soul, Glenn Gould loves a good laugh. He is a ham who enjoys dressing up and taking on different personas.
Some of Gould's colourful characters include: Sir Humphrey Price-Davies, a "BBC-type pedagogue"; Duncan Haig-Guinness, a Canadian radio producer; and two psychiatrists, S.F. Lemming, M.D., and Wolfgang von Krankmeister.

Gould even publishes articles as the fictitious German critic Dr. Herbert von Hochmeister. In this radio segment called Critics Call-Out Corner, CBC host and close friend Margaret Pacsu interviews two "distinguished" music critics — both played by Gould: British conductor Sir Nigel Twitt-Thornwaite and Theodore Slutz, a New York City cabdriver. The two men discuss the "controversy" raging around the Maude Harbour Flute Festival.

Glenn Gould hams it up

• In Cities: Glenn Gould's Toronto, a 1979 documentary about the city of Toronto, Gould described himself as a "non-concert-going, anti-athletic teetotaller."
• Gould was a huge Barbra Streisand fan and referred to himself a "Streisand freak."
• Gould's particular sense of wit is evident in an article published in February 1974 for High Fidelity magazine. In it, Glenn Gould interviews Glenn Gould about Glenn Gould.

• Gould also wrote a witty and amusing review of Geoffrey Payzant's book Glenn Gould, Music and Mind. The book was written with Gould's approval.
• John Roberts, a close friend, recalled in Glenn Gould: Variations published in 1983, how Gould loved mimicry. He would call Roberts at all hours of the night pretending to be either Leonard Bernstein, the prime minister of Canada, the president of the CBC or even Roberts's landlady.

Glenn Gould hams it up

Medium: Radio

Program: Arts National

Broadcast Date: Aug. 26, 1977

Guest(s): Glenn Gould

Host: Margaret Pacsu

Duration: 3:24

Last updated:
July 24, 2009