Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould Blu-ray Movie Review

A virtuoso documentary about one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater March 7, 2011

With his tousled hair, ever-gloved hands, and heavy coat with the collar turned up—even when it was warm—Glenn Gould looked more like a Byronic poet than a concert pianist. He was perhaps the closest the classical music world has ever come to a tormented rock star, and he had the idiosyncrasies to match. A noted hypochondriac who claimed to hate daylight and bright colors, Gould’s oddities extended to his playing style as well. Sitting on a specially constructed chair only 13” high, he slouched over the keys—often crooning along and wildly gesticulating as he plinked away with crisp staccato touches—and he was notorious for playing pieces much faster or slower than the composer’s indicated tempo. Gould’s penchant for odd interpretations of the classical canon earned the ire of his peers—most of whom valued precision and proficiency over creative playing—but this divergence from the norm is precisely why he’s now considered a musical genius. Gould himself put it like this: “To make it differently is the only excuse for being a musician.”

The enigmatic Glenn Gould...

Genius Within doesn’t exactly “make it differently”—this is a rather conventional biographical documentary—but co-directors Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont have crafted a balanced, insightful account of Glenn Gould’s life. Where many films about Gould—and there have been many— focus almost exclusively on the pianist’s strange ways, Genius Within seeks to dispel some of the myths and get at the man behind the wacko persona. Biographer Kevin Bazzana, interviewed at length, asserts that Gould was actually quite media savvy and knew entirely well that the eccentricities of his manicured public image would help sell records. That’s not to say, however, that many of his quirks weren’t real. He was a genuine hypochondriac—he complained of drafts and aches, and kept detailed lists of his blood pressure readings and sleep schedules—and he hated being touched. (For obvious reasons, whenever possible, he avoided shaking hands.) Intensely private, Gould kept the details of his personal life ambiguous, seeming almost asexual at times and nurturing the image of a man married to his art. Hozer and Raymont, however, have netted interviews with three of Gould’s former lovers—most notably Cornelia Foss, with whom he had a five-year affair—and each express variations on the same sentiment: Gould was brilliant, focused, and like many artists, difficult to get along with.

The film follows the usual birth-to-death trajectory, starting with Gould’s childhood and early musical training—he was admitted to Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music at age 10, in 1942—and carrying us through to his untimely death by stroke in 1982. In between was an enigmatic life defined by the unexpected. At 22, Gould made his U.S. debut in New York City, and was promptly signed by Columbia Records. For his first album, he tackled Bach’s exceptionally complex Goldberg Variations, and the classical music scene immediately took notice. When he toured Russia in 1957—as the first North American to play there since WWII—he caused an enthusiastic stir when he opted to perform an entire evening of Bach, who had been largely banished from Soviet music culture for being “evangelical.” By the last stop on his tour, in Leningrad, demand was so great that the venue—despite fire-code regulations—filled the aisles with some 1,100 standees. Just seven years later, with fewer than 200 concerts under his belt, Gould retired from live performance altogether. “En masse I detest audiences,” he said. “It seems to me they’re a force of evil.” Harsh words, but Gould had his reasons, believing that the institution of classical concerts had devolved into a trap for artists, with audiences hoping to see them fail. For the last two decades of his life, Gould retreated into the controlled confines of studio recording, where he pioneered splicing techniques and even dabbled—although “dabbled” isn’t the right word for a man so prolific—in avant-garde radio documentaries.

Genius Within could’ve also been called The Many Lives of Glenn Gould, as Hozer and Raymont reveal the multi-faceted shape of the piano phenom’s life and career. Through extensive use of archival footage, recordings, and contemporary interviews with Gould’s closest friends —there were precious few of them—the co-directors shine an omnidirectional light on their sometimes-elusive subject. We see Gould the prodigy, so enraptured in his practice that he would unconsciously sing along, a critic-enraging habit he could never quite shed. We follow Gould the provincial kid in the big city, winning over record label execs with his gaw-shucks smile. And, of course, there’s Gould the eccentric, bundled up and complaining about the cold, scared of personal contact and tired of touring. Many "Goulds" follow: the self-medicating night owl, the emotionally distant lover, the cantankerous perfectionist holed up in his studio. “His life itself was a performance people couldn’t take their eyes off of,” says writer/philosopher Mark Kingwell, summing up Gould’s unlikely allure. It is hard to separate the man from the music, but what comes through most powerfully in Genius Within is just how brilliant and intricate Gould’s playing was. Classical music in the wrong hands can sound lifeless and robotic, but through the channel of Gould’s fingers, you can hear the soul in every note.

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Genius Within is presented with a 1080i/AVC-encoded transfer, and while I can only speculate on why Lorber Films went with an interlaced image instead of a progressive picture—I'm assuming the "talking head" interviews were shot natively in 1080i—there really aren't many issues with this presentation. I spotted a few instances of stair-step aliasing and some mild shimmer on intricately lined patterns, but that's about it. No major distractions. Along with the contemporary interviews, the film is comprised of vintage 16mm and even 8mm footage, primitive video from the early 1960s onward, and static media, like photographs and scans of Gould's diary. The transfer handles all of these sources well, and I was pleased by how strong some of the archival material looks. The new interviews are also more than adequately crisp and realistically colored. No real complaints here.

Do note that as it's very difficult to capture usable screenshots in 1080i, all screengrabs in this review were captured in 720p and do not reflect the film's full resolution.

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Even better is the documentary's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. You can tell a lot of thought went into this mix, and as you'd hope from a film about one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, it all sounds wonderful. Gould's recordings are dynamic and expansive here, and barring some of the original tape hiss—very minor—they sound spectacularly clear. Where I was surprised, though, was in how effectively the rear channels are used in the mix, not so much for Glenn's music—although occasionally his piano sounds are bled into the surrounds—but for ambience. During a vintage lake-side interview with Gould, you'll hear quiet wind and chirping birds in rears. A performance in Russia features immersive audience applause. New York and Toronto street views are graced with encompassing traffic sounds. These are small touches—and obviously added in after the fact—but they tend to draw you into the documentary more than a flat 2.0 presentation probably would. Voices are also clean and easy to understand. Do note, though, that there are no subtitle options on the disc whatsoever.

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes and Interviews (1080i, 16:13 total): Here you'll find additional reminiscences and thoughts by Cornelia Foss, Lorne Tulk, Ray Roberts, and Kevin Bazzana.
• Trailers: Includes high definition trailers for Genius Within (1080i, 2:40), Army of Crime (1080p, 1:50), Mademoiselle Chambon (1080p, 1:50), and Home (1080p, 1:43).

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Classical music fans owe it to themselves to see Genius Within, a conventional but enlightening documentary about one of the most enlightened, unconventional musicians of the 20th century. Even if you've never heard of Glenn Gould, you'll be sucked in by his story. Recommended!