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A phenomenal and controversial pianist, Glenn Gould was no less impressive – or eccentric – as a thinker, writer, and radio producer. However, Gould defined himself as “a composer who plays piano”. He applied the label "Opus 1" to his String Quartet in F minor. There were to be no higher opus numbers, for Gould then launched his dazzling international career as a pianist. Composed between 1953 and 1955, the period during which he was getting ready to record the Goldberg Variations for the first time, the quartet represents an astonishing intellectual mosaic of musical aesthetics.
Sir Ernest MacMillan was a dominating figure in Canadian musical life during the mid-20th century. Principal of the Royal Conservatory of Music (where Gould studied), conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, and long-time organist at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church (bastion of Toronto’s business elite), MacMillan was synonymous with classical music in Canada in a way that seem...