GATINEAU, Que. - It's no accident that snippets of music, video and curious objects compete for attention in the dimly lit space that marks the entrance to the Glenn Gould exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
After all, Canada's most famous classical musician was passionate about experimenting with layers of artistic material. He was also notoriously messy and abhorred bright colours.
Glenn Gould: Sounds of Genius, the largest exhibition to date of its kind, attempts to explore the man from different angles: his extraordinary musical talent, his avant-garde approach to the use of technology in art and the unavoidable topic of his eccentricities.
The show, which officially opens Friday, is part of the so-called Year of Glenn Gould, a nod to the 25th anniversary of his death and the 75th anniversary of his birth. On Tuesday, what would have been his birthday, the National Arts Centre will begin a series of concert tributes to Gould and in Toronto a public space is being dedicated in his name.
Curator Sam Cronk speculates that Gould might have been even more famous internationally than he was in his home country where classical music has less of a following. A group of German tourists wandering by the unfinished exhibit last week begged Cronk to let them take a quick peek.
"The careers of most classical musicians tend to end upon their death, at least for performers, you don't tend to recognize them years later," said Cronk.
"Glenn Gould, he has a kind of enduring legacy. It's in part because of his artistic integrity, in part because of his virtuosity, perhaps because of his idiosyncratic personality, but in large part because of his comprehensive scope as a musician."
While Gould shunned the public towards the end of his life, scorning the stage and popping copious amounts of pills in the confines of his Toronto apartment, he was anything but a private man artistically. He left behind an enormous body of personal letters, annotated musical scores, scripts, radio projects and other artistic dabblings.
The museum raided the rich collection of the Library and Archives of Canada for a large portion of the show. Gould's beloved Steinway CD318 is the centrepiece, along with the bizarre, upright piano chair that he used from childhood until death. There's a collection of hotel keys that he hoarded over the years and posters from his international shows.
His trademark cap, wool gloves and coat -- an ensemble he wore even in the summer -- is preserved behind Plexiglas.
Other artifacts came from private collections. A former music student retrieved a tuxedo that was donated to the Salvation Army upon Gould's death and dutifully lent it to the museum.
In one corner sits a worn armchair of Gould's beside a collage of his favourite vinyl recordings. Barbra Streisand is in the collection -- one of the few modern artists, along with Petula Clark, that Gould admitted to liking.
"I'm a Streisand freak," Gould once said.
Gould's fans will enjoy looking at the wild annotations he made on the sheets for Bach's Goldberg Variations. His first recording of the works in 1955 at the CBC Studios in New York City made him world famous. A listening station allows uninterrupted enjoyment of entire pieces for over an hour in comfy leather chairs.
And those not so familiar with his work are given a primer on his life trajectory. Gould was child prodigy but spent his life working on his technique and expanding his artistic horizons to become a true media artist. Visitors get to see just how unusually low Gould sat at the piano, and how he swayed and hummed in a sort of trance as he played.
They'll learn he produced complicated radio and television documentaries and took great interest in the use of technology for manipulating music.
"I think there is something that can appeal to everyone. He is remarkably well known for his virtuosity as a performer. He's also a media artist, creating radio documentaries, television documentaries," said Cronk.
"He would have loved the Internet. I think that would have been his favourite medium for connecting with the broad public without directly having to connect with them. I think there are ideas within his artistic vision than can cross generations."
The exhibit runs until August 2008.
