event
Thursday 1 January 1970 -

The Aesthetic of Absence: An Homage to Glenn Gould

For Glenn Gould the Goldberg Variations “observe neither end nor beginning; they are a music like Baudelaire’s lovers, ‘mollement balancés sur l’aile / du tourbillon intelligent’”.
Glenn Gould, the transgressive though never irreverent innovator, overturned the interpretative tradition that favoured philological performance to offer his own highly personal and simply Gouldian reading; a pianist who ceased performing live not for the caprice of a star, but because he wished to entrust his idea of music to the precision of its recording.
Glenn Gould was born in Toronto on 25 September 1932. On 4 October 1982 a stroke prematurely interrupted his life, and his ceaseless search gently balanced upon the wings of the intelligent whirlwind.
On the eightieth anniversary of his birth, and 30 years after his death, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is dedicating two weeks of events to this Canadian pianist (from 16 November to 2 December), retracing the history of the man, the artist, the author, the experimenter. The project intends to re-evoke one of the most original and polyhedral figures of the 20th century in all of his diverse expressions.

The Events at the MAXXI:

22 November and 2 December, h 16.00
PERFORMANCE/ The Art of the Fugue – “I live by long distance”
Entrance permitted to those with a ticket to the Museum
Performance by participants in the theatre workshops organised by the Associazione Orma Fluens at the Centro diurno Villa Lais on the Gouldian theme of “distance”.
In collaboration with the MAXXI Education Department

24 November, h 17.00
MUSIC AND ARCHITECTURE/ Cities
MAXXI B.A.S.E., Sala Graziella Lonardi Buontempo – free entrance (on a first-come basis)
Projection of the documentary Cities, Canada 1979 – 48 min. English.
Written by Glenn Gould and directed by John McGreevy.
Introduced by the architect Lorenzo Pignatti Morano di Custoza

Reduced entry to the MAXXI and concerts at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia will be offered to those presenting respective tickets from these institutions.

    Events will also take place at the Parco della Musica and the Centro diurno VILLA LAIS D.S.M. – ASL Roma C

 
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
in collaboration with
Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza
Istituto Quasar – Design University Roma
MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo
Centro diurno Villa Lais D.S.M. – ASL Roma C e Associazione Orma Fluens
Fondazione Musica per Roma

Photo credits: Glenn Gould © Dan Weiner (part.). Courtesy of Sony Classical/Sony Music Entertainment Italy Spa.