For my first movie project I decided to do a piece on Glenn Gould. He has been one of my favorite piano performers for some time. I remember when I first heard his recording of the Goldberg Variations, which happened to be his later recording. I was stunned at the musicality and fluid technique. I later discovered that his first recording the one he made when he was much younger), some believe, is a more accurate representation of how the piece should be played. I've always disagreed with this, perhaps because I heard the later recording first.

Anyway, because of the play on the number 32 surrounding him, I decided to title my movie 32 short stills about Glenn Gould. He was born in 1932, a movie was made about him called "32 Short Films", he retired from public performance just shy of 32, and one of the pieces that made him famous was the Goldberg Variations, a 32 section work if you count the aria, and aria di capo. He was also known to be quite eccentric. He typically sang along with his recordings, and in public performance. He was also social outcast to a certain extent, which was probably a product of his perfectionism and genius.

For the actual movie, I chose the opening aria of the Goldberg Variations. I selected various images of Gould from the web, trying to represent a wide variety of places in his life and career. I ended up spending quite a bit of time on this, because I wanted to line specific musical moments with specific frame changes. Each time I made an adjustment, I would have to readjust everything else. I don't know if this approach came off as effective in the final product, but I'm glad I made the effort to do so, even though it took me so much longer.