dan you sound pretty cool. I'm now 18 years old been listening to Gould since I was about 16... he just amazes me ya know? words just can't describe Bach's music. it's magic.
I feel sorrow, loneliness, melancholy, and recollection of the past. The beauty and spirituality of the music is revealed when it acknowledges all of those feelings, and provides a mellow intimacy of gratefulness, contentment, and companionship. Life-affirming and celestial are my best descriptions of this masterpiece
Bach is a rare type of a composer whose pieces can be played in such a different manner (slow, fast, staccato, legato etc.) and they still don't lose their meaning...
s o o o true. is it beautiful? ... yea. but more than that. deep, far, wide, ancient, modern, eternal, simple, complex, elegant, fundamental, omniscient, omnipotent, other-worldly.
Any composers music can be interpreted that way...slow, fast. Bach's internal structure*harmonization/ structural development is what determines the tempo. Might I just hypothesize that Bach's tempos were slightly slower than we play then today?
this fugue is the most touching piece among the 24 fugues in the two volumes by Bach, it's good to hear someone paying so much attention to its emotional and contrapuntal details which are not necessarily given its due by other pianists, even some Bach specialist aren't so aware of its emotional depth and beauty.
Hmmmmm nah, I'd say the 4th fugue (1st volume) is just the absolute best out of all in every sense, 5 voices, 3 themes, the 2nd longest fugue (depending also on which speed you decide to play it) constantly increasing completely, exaggerated amount of colours in the piece. Just perfection
@@sebastianciarfella3061 his interpretation of the c# minor fugue from book 1 is kinda comical. The playing itself is incredible considering the level of detail kept at such a fast tempo. I personally prefer the interpretation from the channel smalin even though it's a compilation of vocoder recordings. Overall, the c# minor fugue is quite serious in manner (even Gould's version comes off, to me, as a scooby doo mystery). However, the E major fugue here feels like home..
@@blankname4716 I found Gould's interpretation of it very dark. At such tempo, the divertissement (I don't know how you call that in English) sounds like death approaching at a very fast pace.
Glenn Gould polarizes the audience. I don't mind his strange behaviours, in the opposite, in our times where everybody tends to try acting, looking and speaking "cool", he just immersed into the music on a level of intensity that is rare. The beauty that flows of every note of Bach is making even stones cry.
A timeless five minutes. How music goes beyond words, and every other art form. The greatest composer interpreted by the greatest musician of the century.
What makes Gould so special for me is that whenever you close your eyes and listen to Gould's recordings they "feel" alive, like he is your good friend sitting in front of you playing after a healthy musical discussion .
There is certainly a mystical, metaphysical quality inthis fugue( as there is in all of Gould's playing) and what could be more metaphysical than trencending time and space listening to a piece in 2020 that was writtten in the early 1700s and recorded inthe 1980s
I've been admiring this piece for few months now and I never get enough of it, I even started playing it myself... tough piano is only my secondary instrument. After studying it so well, I do prefer the fugue on harpsichord, but this version from Glenn Gould is absolutely a favorite
Plain, unobstructed, celestial--very difficult when dealing with arguably the best composer of all time. As usual, no fallacies in Gould's rendition. Thank you for the post!
He most probably is not the greatest player of them all, but he's the only one, who accomplished to make me enjoy, love, watch and listen to this kind of classic music, of which I'm not a big fan to begin with, again and again for years now. As this is something that is not only happening to me, but also to a ton of others in the audience,. he indeed has something special to offer. He's able to transport that specialty of him and the magic of the music to the listeners, that no one else can in his special unique way. Not only his idiosyncratic style of playing, which though underlines and transports his deep passion, love and respect from him for the composer and the craftsmanship of this masterpieces, forwards this directly over to the audience. There is a thin line between genius and madness that is just mesmerizing and fascinating.
From God's mind to Bach's heart to Gould fingers. Only this genius can capture the essence of divine profundity with his simple hands. God bless Glenn Gould
This fugue is written in 4 part structure with each voice is treated independently, almost chorally. In a fugue, the subject is the main thing being stated, and each voice gets the chance to speak that subject. The counter subject is basically the accompanying conversation that goes along with the subject. The subject starts in the bass, and works its way to the tenor, alto and soprano line. For a good explanation, look for the video of Glenn talking about this piece.
After listening to this I think I wouldn´t be sorry to die because I´ve just heard the most beautiful thing ever... thanks a lot for sharing. It´s absoulte.
I have watched many of these video's and I think I have come to the conclusion (albeit probably shallow on my part) that Mr. Gould actually becomes every note he plays. His hands are the mechanism, the piano, its strings and sound board the speaker with his soul the music expressed for our ears to hear...
This man was SO into Bach's music and understood SO much that it killed him in the end. You can see pictures of him as the years went on and he really was destroyed from the inside. We are only so lucky to have had him, there shall never be another Glenn Gould.
I disagree. Getting close to Bach doesn't kill people -- Bach gives life! Gould was a severe hypochondriac, and what destroyed his health was his incessant self-medication with all sorts of pills.
yes this is the magic of Bach. To some extent it's not only irrelevant how you play Bach, his music retains its intimate nature also when it's played with different instruments
@releasethefrogs Not only slowness but also the special articulation and the phrases he chose to bold and the way he phrased everything. Pure genius, I have no words for it. I can't explain what I feel the moment I hear this truly divine performance.
I understand that. I accept his point of view. I accept the right of a musician who try so hard to express his opinion. I find his theatrical movements an exaggeration and excuse me but I don't like that. E
@@eislakkon3110 yet you're still here, probably unable to listen to other recordings because you immediately notice they're worse than Gould's :v (don't worry I do too)
@@eislakkon3110 I'm pretty sure Glenn Gould was just crazy, and couldn't control these movements. I don't think it's right to call these movements "exaggerated".
I have never seen Glen Gould with a piece of sheet music in front of him, even when playing with ensembles.--A complete, intimate and thorough mental memorization of the music he is expressing.
What more can you ask for? I mean, Glenn just gives it his whole being. This is intensely personal, close, introspective, and above all full of "heart". Thanks for posting!
Per me la Fuga più espressiva e imponente del grande Maestro di Eisenach, degna di consacrarlo nel tempo come il Dio della musica universale sulla terra
when i hear it on Glenn gould the Fugue in E i understand it very much better as from all others pianist i ever hear it in the world, and i hear it so many...
Yes. These version was recorded in 57, with partitas 5-6. So Glenn Gould made 4 recordings of this fugue: 1.1957 - Audio with Partitas 5/6 2.1963 - Audio of the complete WTC 3.(-) - Video in a modern harpsichord 4.1976-1981 - This Video, part of Glenn Gould plays Bach series Thanks!
Imagine if Gould had met Bach! Well I suppose maybe he has? Only Gould could express to him what a phenomenal landmark Bach has been in human thought. Someone else has said that we could leave the achievements of Newton or Einstein as a testament to human achievement. - To leave Bach would just be showing off!
Of all Bach's music, all of Glenn Gould's interpretations, this one simply makes me speechless, even sad. It is as if a whole life is told in one short piece of music. I was listening to this at a Cape Cod beach sunrise, alone. The feeling transcended words or even emotions. BTW, does anyone know if there is a CD/audio version of this? I bought a Sony released Well Tempered Clavier by Gould, but in that he plays much faster. I'd much prefer this tempo.
When I was in college I would walk a lot and think. When I felt lost I would always play this fugue on my headphones and it would bring me back to Terra Firma, like walking through a labyrinth.
How can he handle two voices so perfectly. A few notes. With one hand Ikr i play such things myself and i can handle everything but this is just something else
sometimes when i'm working really hard on music and need a break, i listen to glenn, then decide is should just give up... and take a little break. lol
This interpretation is unique. Its hard to listen to the same piece of music again by other performers without missing the intensity and expression by GG
Every note, every sonority played with the greatest care to the greatest effect. The perfect match to Bach who also, in writing his music, poured over every note, seeing it as an offering to God. You may not agree with how Glenn Gould renders this or that passage, but you can't help at the end having had a magnificent, intense experience leaving you feeling closer to Bach than anyone else is able to do.
...eine wunderbare Interpretation; ganze Eigenart, Genie und absolute Leidenschaft, also Bach in seiner Vollkommenheit...Komplexe Musik für die Seele...
I've been trying to say several times what I admire so much about the combination of Glenn Gould and Bach, but everytime I get stuck because there are no words to describe this very odd feeling I get when listening to this combination of very high intellect and the most upright emotions that Glenn Gould puts into his music. Such a loss that he died so early. But better for him, I think.
This is madness. Sheer genius. He feels every note as if he is one with them...complete dissolution into the piece. Ahhh!!! just close your eyes and listen. I think Bach would simply faint if he heard this interpretation of his composition.
Gould plays the piano as though it was an organ….he controls the sonority so that every single note is heard, which is an insane accomplishment. A lot of concert pianists can obviously play Bach’s music, but there are far too many who actually-incomprehensibly!-use the sustain pedal, pummeling the gorgeous contrapuntal framework into a mass of mush. There are commenters who rave about the exhibitions, and all I can think is that their minds can’t make any sense of what’s going on. In Gould’s genius hands, the music is so pristine, so crystalline, so heartbreakingly gorgeous, that I often forget to breathe.
Yet, Gould was against attaching yourself to the instrument. As Monsaingeon approximativly said about Gould and the piano "detached from the instrument that he mastered to perfection". You can find this citation in the beginning of the documentary about Gould's second, and last, recording of the goldberg variations.
I get chills watching this. Two geniuses communicating across the centuries.
well said
well said
No doubt Bach is close to him. Time it´s only a small detail...
dan you sound pretty cool. I'm now 18 years old been listening to Gould since I was about 16... he just amazes me ya know? words just can't describe Bach's music. it's magic.
this is just as much Gould as it is Bach :)
This is the first version I listened to. And, after hearing it I realize that no other will compare.
Except his tempo here is slightly too slow
@@rrrrrr-kb9sb according to whom?
@The_Invisible_Mansì, ma il pianoforte chi glielo dava? 🙂
Try the Version by Gulda: It is not so innig but has power and authority.
@rrrrrr-kb9sb 😅😅😅😅😃😅😅 you have the right to be stupid, but there are limits.
i don't know how many times i watched this over years.
I'm the same, then recently listened in quality headphones and it was like I'd never heard it!!
I feel sorrow, loneliness, melancholy, and recollection of the past. The beauty and spirituality of the music is revealed when it acknowledges all of those feelings, and provides a mellow intimacy of gratefulness, contentment, and companionship. Life-affirming and celestial are my best descriptions of this masterpiece
Bach is a rare type of a composer whose pieces can be played in such a different manner (slow, fast, staccato, legato etc.) and they still don't lose their meaning...
So true..
s o o o true. is it beautiful? ... yea. but more than that. deep, far, wide, ancient, modern, eternal, simple, complex, elegant, fundamental, omniscient, omnipotent, other-worldly.
yes exactrly it's a test of Bach's genius that his composition can be applied to so many instruments
I agree.
Any composers music can be interpreted that way...slow, fast. Bach's internal structure*harmonization/ structural development is what determines the tempo. Might I just hypothesize that Bach's tempos were slightly slower than we play then today?
I love the slow tempo of his Bach interpretations. It really allows one to truly appreciate the intricacy and beauty of Bach's pieces.
Yes this interpretation is much more profound than his studio version of this same piece
@@tree_fingers I agree, the beautiful moments of harmony stand out much more in this tempo, making the piece so moving in general.
this fugue is the most touching piece among the 24 fugues in the two volumes by Bach, it's good to hear someone paying so much attention to its emotional and contrapuntal details which are not necessarily given its due by other pianists, even some Bach specialist aren't so aware of its emotional depth and beauty.
Hmmmmm nah, I'd say the 4th fugue (1st volume) is just the absolute best out of all in every sense, 5 voices, 3 themes, the 2nd longest fugue (depending also on which speed you decide to play it) constantly increasing completely, exaggerated amount of colours in the piece. Just perfection
@@sebastianciarfella3061 his interpretation of the c# minor fugue from book 1 is kinda comical. The playing itself is incredible considering the level of detail kept at such a fast tempo. I personally prefer the interpretation from the channel smalin even though it's a compilation of vocoder recordings. Overall, the c# minor fugue is quite serious in manner (even Gould's version comes off, to me, as a scooby doo mystery). However, the E major fugue here feels like home..
Yes! I suppose learning technical intricacies of a piece is a fragment of the unseen emotional intricacies bound to it.
@@sebastianciarfella3061 And it's also a triple fugue .... !
@@blankname4716 I found Gould's interpretation of it very dark. At such tempo, the divertissement (I don't know how you call that in English) sounds like death approaching at a very fast pace.
Unbelievably beautiful... His Bach is simply unique.
Glenn Gould polarizes the audience. I don't mind his strange behaviours, in the opposite, in our times where everybody tends to try acting, looking and speaking "cool", he just immersed into the music on a level of intensity that is rare. The beauty that flows of every note of Bach is making even stones cry.
simply love your comment
There is nothing like a a great artist, a master in his craft, that at the same time knows how to strike a pose.
Hahahahaha!
This is the highest level of music making. You need to hear to believe. A whole life is embedded in 5 minutes work.
A timeless five minutes. How music goes beyond words, and every other art form. The greatest composer interpreted by the greatest musician of the century.
Glenn could really bend the laws of time....it really seems that time bends following his phrasing. Amazing
He was already not well in this video --yet the maturity and depth of his emotion shines through. No longer a kid, he gives us a gift with this.
Truly beautiful... and deeply moving. Bach read by Gould, intensely personal and to be honest a jewel.
The spiritual depth of this fugue belongs in the realm of the divine.
Superb,.. beautiful... no words to express such feeling!
Absolute chills hearing this version and seeing the emotion that Glenn pours into it.
He LOVES each and every note and their connection to each other!
Yes. And did you notice his loving stroke of the last note?
The best cadence ever at the end!!! so good it's almost ridiculous.
What makes Gould so special for me is that whenever you close your eyes and listen to Gould's recordings they "feel" alive, like he is your good friend sitting in front of you playing after a healthy musical discussion .
There is certainly a mystical, metaphysical quality inthis fugue( as there is in all of Gould's playing) and what could be more metaphysical than trencending time and space listening to a piece in 2020 that was writtten in the early 1700s and recorded inthe 1980s
What a moving performance. I became a Gould fan today.
I've been admiring this piece for few months now and I never get enough of it, I even started playing it myself... tough piano is only my secondary instrument. After studying it so well, I do prefer the fugue on harpsichord, but this version from Glenn Gould is absolutely a favorite
A treasure beyond any words... this is the sound of the human soul beseeching God...
Plain, unobstructed, celestial--very difficult when dealing with arguably the best composer of all time. As usual, no fallacies in Gould's rendition. Thank you for the post!
He most probably is not the greatest player of them all, but he's the only one, who accomplished to make me enjoy, love, watch and listen to this kind of classic music, of which I'm not a big fan to begin with, again and again for years now. As this is something that is not only happening to me, but also to a ton of others in the audience,. he indeed has something special to offer. He's able to transport that specialty of him and the magic of the music to the listeners, that no one else can in his special unique way. Not only his idiosyncratic style of playing, which though underlines and transports his deep passion, love and respect from him for the composer and the craftsmanship of this masterpieces, forwards this directly over to the audience. There is a thin line between genius and madness that is just mesmerizing and fascinating.
This piece makes me so thankful to be alive. So thank you God for my life and that this exists, and that this COULD exist.
Wow, like a great hymn from above. No one can ever say what a correct tempo is for Bach. This is pure greatness, Bach and Gould.
From God's mind to Bach's heart to Gould fingers. Only this genius can capture the essence of divine profundity with his simple hands. God bless Glenn Gould
Gould Bless America
@@supermassivedwarf what
Yes. God bless him.
You nailed it
This fugue is written in 4 part structure with each voice is treated independently, almost chorally. In a fugue, the subject is the main thing being stated, and each voice gets the chance to speak that subject. The counter subject is basically the accompanying conversation that goes along with the subject. The subject starts in the bass, and works its way to the tenor, alto and soprano line. For a good explanation, look for the video of Glenn talking about this piece.
It is a great education piece too. We did this in advanced ear training.
After listening to this I think I wouldn´t be sorry to die because I´ve just heard the most beautiful thing ever... thanks a lot for sharing. It´s absoulte.
Mesmerizing is the word. Perfectly flavor and not too much salt 👌
Really like to see how Glen deeply melt into the music while playing the piano
I love his recordings later in his life vs when he was younger.
I have watched many of these video's and I think I have come to the conclusion (albeit probably shallow on my part) that Mr. Gould actually becomes every note he plays. His hands are the mechanism, the piano, its strings and sound board the speaker with his soul the music expressed for our ears to hear...
This man was SO into Bach's music and understood SO much that it killed him in the end. You can see pictures of him as the years went on and he really was destroyed from the inside. We are only so lucky to have had him, there shall never be another Glenn Gould.
Yeah. That’s an understatement
I disagree. Getting close to Bach doesn't kill people -- Bach gives life! Gould was a severe hypochondriac, and what destroyed his health was his incessant self-medication with all sorts of pills.
Weird comment.
@@musical_lolu4811 I agree. I was pretty edgy back then
I did not understand the comment@@robbyburns5822
His genius is on display here for us all-unorthodox, profound, beyond comprehension.
yes this is the magic of Bach. To some extent it's not only irrelevant how you play Bach, his music retains its intimate nature also when it's played with different instruments
One masterpiece coming up !
Mehdi F "As I said, a masterpiece." :-)
Absolutely fantastic!
When I listen to this, I have to remind myself to breathe.
Happy birthday, Glenn Gould.
Absolutely sublime
@releasethefrogs Not only slowness but also the special articulation and the phrases he chose to bold and the way he phrased everything. Pure genius, I have no words for it. I can't explain what I feel the moment I hear this truly divine performance.
This is beyond words.
Indeed we could say he mesmerizes himself by the beauty of the sound....
生きる意味みたいなものを感じられる次元を超えた演奏
I think the people making comments about his posture, or the amount of drama and emotion put in don't understand that it's GLENN FUCKING GOULD.
I understand that.
I accept his point of view.
I accept the right of a
musician who try so hard
to express his opinion.
I find his theatrical movements
an exaggeration and excuse me
but
I don't like that.
E
@@eislakkon3110 just close you eyes and enjoy this miracle!
@@eislakkon3110 yet you're still here, probably unable to listen to other recordings because you immediately notice they're worse than Gould's :v (don't worry I do too)
@@eislakkon3110 I'm pretty sure Glenn Gould was just crazy, and couldn't control these movements. I don't think it's right to call these movements "exaggerated".
@@Kitties_are_pretty I agree, he's been humming to his own music his own life and he never broke the habit.
Magnificent! So touching!
he played this just ... right. I love Bach, and I admire Gould for playing it this way.
This is an extremely great interpretation of this piece. Wow.
Very emotional and expressive performance indeed❤
Listening to this deep music,I close eyes eyes and feel myself in some other world,a very strange world.
The prelude to this fugue, which is the best in WTK2, is also unbelievably well performed by him.
I share the same Opinion:) (about being the best Prelude)
When Gould and Bach meet, it becomes the most complete and touching art.
I have never seen Glen Gould with a piece of sheet music in front of him, even when playing with ensembles.--A complete, intimate and thorough mental memorization of the music he is expressing.
What more can you ask for? I mean, Glenn just gives it his whole being. This is intensely personal, close, introspective, and above all full of "heart". Thanks for posting!
Per me la Fuga più espressiva e imponente del grande Maestro di Eisenach, degna di consacrarlo nel tempo come il Dio della musica universale sulla terra
Pure music, divine; simply divine
Великолепный , великий пианист . Виртуоз. Слушать и смотреть сплошное удовольствие !
when i hear it on Glenn gould the Fugue in E i understand it very much better as from all others pianist i ever hear it in the world, and i hear it so many...
Yes. These version was recorded in 57, with partitas 5-6. So Glenn Gould made 4 recordings of this fugue:
1.1957 - Audio with Partitas 5/6
2.1963 - Audio of the complete WTC
3.(-) - Video in a modern harpsichord
4.1976-1981 - This Video, part of Glenn Gould plays Bach series
Thanks!
On ne s’en lasse pas !
Superbe !
Beautiful music.
Imagine if Gould had met Bach! Well I suppose maybe he has?
Only Gould could express to him what a phenomenal landmark Bach has been in human thought.
Someone else has said that we could leave the achievements of Newton or Einstein as a testament to human achievement. - To leave Bach would just be showing off!
Orlagh Fagan Great points Orlagh. Oh I love your name!
Well said. I second that.
A remarkable fugue, a remarkable performance AND tempo
Wow , suddenly , this makes life just that bit more bareable :D , its music like this we truly live for isnt it
Thanks for posting
Magnifica interpretazione della mia fuga preferita.
Please, this is the way this master feels the music...
The way Glenn responds while playing makes me think he feels the fuge is heroic.
Of all Bach's music, all of Glenn Gould's interpretations, this one simply makes me speechless, even sad. It is as if a whole life is told in one short piece of music. I was listening to this at a Cape Cod beach sunrise, alone. The feeling transcended words or even emotions.
BTW, does anyone know if there is a CD/audio version of this? I bought a Sony released Well Tempered Clavier by Gould, but in that he plays much faster. I'd much prefer this tempo.
It seems to be one one of his favorites
HeyIt'sBrian it's on his cd with Goldberg Variations from 1955 as one of few additional tracks
HeyIt'sBrian i think it's not exactly this recording but it's quite similar to this one
There is a version so similar to this included in an early recording of the partitas nos 5 & 6. But this is, without doubt, his best.
When I was in college I would walk a lot and think. When I felt lost I would always play this fugue on my headphones and it would bring me back to Terra Firma, like walking through a labyrinth.
Perfect teknik, perfect sound, thank you m. Glenn.
this one gets me every time.
How can he handle two voices so perfectly. A few notes. With one hand
Ikr i play such things myself and i can handle everything but this is just something else
sometimes when i'm working really hard on music and need a break, i listen to glenn, then decide is should just give up... and take a little break. lol
Wow! this is the first video I've seen of Glen Gould playing the piano. He is quite mad, and extremely brilliant.
A genius playing another Genius.
Ohhh! I love him for this!
The Cleveland Orchestra conductor said it best: "this nut is a genius."
The slow tempo gives one time to savour the beauty
This interpretation is unique. Its hard to listen to the same piece of music again by other performers without missing the intensity and expression by GG
Very expressive
This performance makes me feel so sad and lonely for some reason
Listen to it when you’re sad and lonely, and it’ll have the opposite effect
it feels like he's still with us :)
Every note, every sonority played with the greatest care to the greatest effect. The perfect match to Bach who also, in writing his music, poured over every note, seeing it as an offering to God. You may not agree with how Glenn Gould renders this or that passage, but you can't help at the end having had a magnificent, intense experience leaving you feeling closer to Bach than anyone else is able to do.
a swift uppercut to the invisible page turner at 1:00
lol
😂😂
LOL I wish he then flicks the invisible page turner off at 1:01 😂
Making love to his piano! So much intensity.
tan apasionado y expresivo Gould, me encanta :)
Playing that speed-slow is much more difficult ! Glen gould : trippatif !
Merci à ce génie.
One of the greatest fugues in the whole WTC.
GLen Gould is the true master of fugue and he is ruler of Music at all!
Welch eine schöne Musik! ❤
...eine wunderbare Interpretation; ganze Eigenart, Genie und absolute Leidenschaft, also Bach in seiner Vollkommenheit...Komplexe Musik für die Seele...
I've been trying to say several times what I admire so much about the combination of Glenn Gould and Bach, but everytime I get stuck because there are no words to describe this very odd feeling I get when listening to this combination of very high intellect and the most upright emotions that Glenn Gould puts into his music. Such a loss that he died so early. But better for him, I think.
That is REAL meditation
It is based on ABSOLUTE dedication
That is LIFE
🔶
It's beautiful.
This is madness. Sheer genius. He feels every note as if he is one with them...complete dissolution into the piece. Ahhh!!! just close your eyes and listen. I think Bach would simply faint if he heard this interpretation of his composition.
:'D
Immenso!
Gould plays the piano as though it was an organ….he controls the sonority so that every single note is heard, which is an insane accomplishment. A lot of concert pianists can obviously play Bach’s music, but there are far too many who actually-incomprehensibly!-use the sustain pedal, pummeling the gorgeous contrapuntal framework into a mass of mush. There are commenters who rave about the exhibitions, and all I can think is that their minds can’t make any sense of what’s going on. In Gould’s genius hands, the music is so pristine, so crystalline, so heartbreakingly gorgeous, that I often forget to breathe.
This boys and girls is what happens when the boundaries between you and the instrument desolves.
Yes. It's very hard to achieve, but it happens once in a while.
Yet, Gould was against attaching yourself to the instrument.
As Monsaingeon approximativly said about Gould and the piano "detached from the instrument that he mastered to perfection".
You can find this citation in the beginning of the documentary about Gould's second, and last, recording of the goldberg variations.