Matter of North

Essays on Glenn Gould and The Idea of North

Brent Wetters, Anthony Cushing (Herausgeber)

Buch | Softcover

336 Seiten

2026
State University of New York Press (Verlag)
979-8-8558-0315-0 (ISBN)

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Documents and illuminates Glenn Gould's groundbreaking radio composition, The Idea of North.

Matter of North collects essays and source material related to Glenn Gould's landmark 1967 radio documentary The Idea of North. The most famous product (other than his studio piano recordings) of Gould's 1964 decision to abandon the concert stage for the recording studio, it combines Gould's interests in the contrapuntal (by the simultaneous layering of speaking voices) with philosophy and a life-long fascination with the Canadian Arctic. Because the documentary is a multivalent work, the contributors approach the documentary from unique perspectives (sociological, philosophical, music-theoretical, ethnomusicological), each illuminating a salient aspect of the work. The source-material section includes for the first time the complete interview responses by Gould's five participants, along with other important documentation.

Brent Wetters is Adjunct Professor of Music at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Providence College. Anthony Cushing is an independent researcher based in Toronto, Canada.

Foreword
Ethan Kleinberg

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Anthony Cushing and Brent Wetters

Essays

1. A Conflicted Soundscape: Glenn Gould's Idea of North
Lucille Mok

2. Glenn Gould and the Non-Imagined North
Jeffrey van den Scott

3. Rails of Protest
Christopher DeLaurenti

4. "That Incredible Tapestry": Revisiting Pilgrimage to Solitude, The Idea of North, and the Landscapes of Glenn Gould
Mark Laurie

5. When a Fugue Isn't a Fugue: Glenn Gould's Musical Semiotics of Contrapuntal Radio and The Idea of North
Anthony Cushing

6. North, History, and the Shadow of Hanslick: Glenn Gould's Ideal of Musical North and Northern Listening
Markus Mantere

7. The Genius Is in the Genesis: Demythologizing the Idea of Gould as Creative Outsider
Anthony Cushing and Brent Wetters

8. De-Northing North: Thematic Continuity in Glenn Gould's Solitude Trilogy
Paul Sanden

9. Monstrous North
Brent Wetters

Appendix
1. Letter from Jim Lotz Accepting Gould's Interview Request (7 September 1967)
2. Gould's Interview Questions for Jim Lotz
3. Introduction to Transcripts
4. Jim Lotz Interview Transcript
5. Walter "Wally" Maclean Interview Transcript
6. Frank Vallee Interview Transcript
7. Robert Phillips Interview Transcript
8. Marianne Schroeder Interview Transcript
9. Gould's Preliminary Sketch of Form
10. Janet Somerville's CBC Publicity Memo (15 November 1967)
11. Scene-by-Scene Analysis
12. "Eskimo at the Piano" ["Eskimo am Flugel"]
13. Anthony Cushing in Conversation with Marianne Schroeder

Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	16.12.2025
Zusatzinfo	17 Illustrations
Verlagsort	Albany, NY
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	467 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
ISBN-13	979-8-8558-0315-0 / 9798855803150
Zustand	Neuware