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4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent, interesting life review and interpretation, Dec 30 2003
Ostwald has done an excellent job of ferreting out the details of an unusual life and making it readable, regardless of the readers experience in music and/or medicine. The book can be read cover to cover, or the reader can easily jump around without losing too much from not reading previous chapters.
I have heard it said that Ostwald is somehow "jealous" of Gould and that his book is a restitution for Gould's scorning of the Psychiatrist-author. On the contrary, I don't think that Ostwald is severe enough in his description of Gould's neurotic antisocial behavior. Nor is he critical enough of Gould's self-serving (mis)interpretation of various piano pieces, such as the very difficult sonata #29 by Beethoven. Or, try listening to Beethoven's "pathetique" sonata played by Gould. It is so violently fast as to lose all sense of musical flavor, phrasing and inflections.
My only other criticism of Ostwald is his (or his editor's) less-than-perfect grammar usage, such as the misuse of the words "whom" and "myself". Small points, at best.
In all, Gould was brilliant at the keyboard and an interesting though troubled figure away from it. This book captures the essence of the man to the point that I feel like I met him, and wish that I had.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, but should be read with reservations., Feb 10 2002
By A Customer
Glenn Gould was, by all accounts, a fascinating and extraordinary man, but difficult to know ; apart from his art, he was renowned for his perceived eccentricity, his reclusiveness, and his wish to keep his private life entirely hidden and separate from his public persona. Various books and endless articles have attempted to present a portrait of Gould, but to my mind, no writer has ever come close to the "essence" of the man; perhaps this is as Gould himself would have wished. His primary mode of communicating with the world was with his music, and music -related writing and broadcasting, and the author of this book makes that very clear. It is mostly concerned with the glorious music, not with Gould's private life, and this is how it should be. But Peter Ostwald, the author, was a doctor and a psychiatrist as well as a gifted musician,(Well, I have read that he was a gifted musician; I've never heard him play!) and does therefore concentrate one one aspect of Gould that he finds interesting and important to understanding the man: his attitude to health, and his emotional state. Gould was, notoriously, considered to be a hypochondriac, although this is not to suggest that his ill-health was imaginary; he did indeed suffer with a number of serious health problems throughout his short life that affected his ability to play the piano. Ostwald considers these, and Goulds mental states, from a medical point of view, although he rather irritatingly does not form any definite conclusions about the roots of Gould's difficulties and does not offer the reader more than a mere suggestion of diagnosis. (there is a brief mention of the possibility that Gould had Asperger's syndrome .... an idea that seems to arouse the wrath of many Gould admirers!) Yet the subject is fascinating, although I feel that some of the personal details given are a little intrusive. But then, Ostwald knew Gould personally.
And therein lies my greatest reservation about this book. Ostwald writes as though he wishes us to believe that he and Gould were very close friends (despite the fact that he is describing a man who, sadly, seems never to have been truly close to anyone outside his family) but this idea is belied by the facts. Ostwald's last meeting with his subject was some years before Gould died: and he mentions that even that meeting took place after a gap of several years. They had some disagreement at this final meeting and it appears that subsequently Gould cut off all communication beteween them. And this , alas, seems to have affected Ostwald's attitude towards his subject; despite the protestations of friendship and admiration, there is an undertone of bitterness and resentment throughout the book that shows in the writing, as of a friend scorned. No; this book certainly does not leave the reader with the impression that the two men were ever truly close. Despite this, though, it is an informative book, and will interest many, especially - but not only! -those who find Gould's music incomparable . But perhaps it is best not to trust all the conclusions that the author draws; when it comes to Glenn Gould, we will probably never know the man's heart.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
High hopes disappointed, Dec 11 2001
Biography on a dead man by a dead man (published after Gould's
death by the estate of Peter Ostwald). The first 100 pages tell
the story. The isolated and mother-dominated childhood explain a
lot of Gould's eccentric behaviour (the emotional shields, group
phobias, extreme monologues). In fact, the opening chapter which
describes and psychoanalyses Mr Gould's and Mr Ostwald's first long
encounter is the most enlightening of the whole book. Subsequent
chapters which follow from birth to initial fame are well-documented
and humane. The book then falls apart due to loose organisation and
waffled writing (is here where the author died editing?). High hopes
disappointed.
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