期刊名称：Critical Voices: The University of Guelph Book Review Project
出版年度：2012
卷号：2
期号：3
页码：1-7
语种：English
出版社：University of Guelph
摘要：Glenn Gould’s obsession with finding the perfect instrumental companion was arguably one of the least unusual of his many eccentricities. Katie Hafner’s A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano situates Gould’s pursuit of his ideal instrument within the larger context of his personality, particularly alongside the few but deeply affectionate human relationships he maintained throughout his life. A Romance on Three Legs tells the story of Glenn Gould’s prolific search for his musical muse, the ideal instrument on which he could sonically reproduce his unique musical conceptions. Throughout the book Hafner traces Gould’s development as both a human being and a musician, deviating as necessary to elaborate on secondary (but no less important) figures of importance: Verne Edquist, Gould’s personal piano technician; the piano manufacturing firm Steinway & Sons; and Cornelia Foss, the wife of conductor Lukas Foss and whom Gould began a romantic relationship in 1964. The focal point of discussion, however, is CD 318, a concert grand piano built by Steinway & Sons during the Second World War. Gould first encountered the weathered piano in the 1960’s during a visit to the piano department of the T. Eaton Company, an important supplier of pianos for visiting artists in Toronto at the time. Gould subsequently performed on CD 318 almost exclusively for the remainder of his life, eventually purchasing the instrument outright in 1973, and it was this piano with whom Gould later described himself as engaging “in a romance on three legs”.
