Legendary musician Loreena McKennitt sat down with The Gould Standard to recount the journey for her illustrious career that has taken her from Morden, Manitoba to the far reaches of the globe. Known for her unique blend of Celtic, Middle Eastern, haunting melodies and poetic lyrics, she reveals her early inspirations and the vast array of cultures and musical traditions that have influenced her work over the years. McKennitt is not only a masterful storyteller and multi-instrumentalist but a music-biz whiz. She founded her own record label that allowed her to maintain creative control of her music and be involved in production, marketing and distribution of her albums.

Loreena McKennitt:

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Best-selling novelist Charles Palliser is best known for his debut novel, The Quincunx, a vast mystery set in Regency England that deftly combines Dickensian elements with contemporary techniques such as the use of unreliable narrators. Published in 1989, after 12 years of research and writing, this 800 page tour de force became an international best-seller. The Anglo-American Palliser was praised for his intricate plotting, vivid characters, and a portrayal of London in the early 19th century so shockingly realistic that Dickens wouldn’t have dared expose social conditions with such brutal honesty. Palliser has published four other successful novels including Betrayals, The Unburied and Rustication. Palliser’s newest novel Sufferance is projected for release near the end of 2023.

Charles Palliser discusses his life, career and influences as a writer and educator.

Charles Palliser:

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Award-winning science fiction writer, blogger and activist Cory Doctorow rallies the creative class against an ever-expanding industry of monopolies and monopsonies. Co-written by Australian scholar Rebecca Giblin, Chokepoint Capitalism unveils the tricks Big Tech and Big Content use to lock-in users and suppliers, eliminate competition, and extort creators and producers, and extract value so that artists can’t survive and audiences pay through the nose. Doctorow shares his thoughts on how we can recapture creative labor markets to make them fairer and more sustainable.

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This month we talk to acclaimed children’s author Sarah Ellis and Illustrator Nancy Vo, who made the life story of Glenn Gould accessible to a younger audience through their new children’s book, As Glenn as Can Be. Sarah Ellis is an acclaimed Canadian children’s author of over 20 books and has won numerous prizes, including the Governor General’s Literary Award and TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. For “As Glenn as Can Be,” she teamed up with the talented artist Nancy Vo to bring to life the story of Gould’s childhood in Toronto during the 1930s, to present a moving portrait of a solitary, deeply creative child who experiences the world differently from his peers, and finds liberating solutions to his challenges through technology. Go behind the scenes and listen to the thought and process behind the beautiful illustrations and story of the book and discover musical easter eggs hidden in the pictures.

As Glenn As Can Be:

Sarah Ellis:

Nancy Vo:

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Legendary trumpeter, composer and educator Wynton Marsalis takes us on a journey through his early life and formative influences. He discusses his evolution into one of the most influential jazz musicians of our time, how he learned to love the pioneers of jazz, his triumphs as the director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, his experiences with classical music and how he brought all these elements together brilliantly in his own boundary-breaking compositions.

Wynton Marsalis:

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The outstanding Canadian stage and film actor Colm Feore is among the most accomplished Shakespearean performers of our time, but has appeared as everything from a mad scientist (Gotham) to a Frost Giant of Jotunheim (Thor) and from German rocket scientist Werner von Braun (For All Mankind) to a Renaissance Pope (The Borgias). Colm shares fascinating insights into his remarkable career, including his preparation for this year’s Stratford production of Richard III, as well as his incandescent portrayal of Glenn Gould in Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould.

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Kevin Bazzana is the world’s leading authority on Glenn Gould, and one of the most perceptive, wry and interesting commentators on music anywhere. The author of the Gould biography Wondrous Strange and the past editor of Glenn Gould Magazine, he joins us for an insightful conversation about Gould, his continuing impact on the arts, and the significance of his 90th birth anniversary. This is another special episode celebrating GlennGould@90.

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Glenn Gould was propelled to stardom by his 1955 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. After a lifetime of study and contemplation, and in anticipation of his 50th birthday, Gould decided to return for another trip to the summit of this musical Everest. His radical rethinking of the Goldbergs became a new masterpiece, admired by music-lovers around the world.

It was also a valedictory statement: released on his 50th birthday, the album preceded the stroke that would end Gould’s life by a few days, a tragic bookend to a storied musical life. As Sony Classical releases a brand new 11-CD set of the complete 1981 Goldbergs session material, we talk with two consummate musical minds who were there with Gould during the creation of the recording: distinguished composer and producer Richard Einhorn, who was part of the production team, and Gould’s friend and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, Tim Page.

Enjoy these amazing insights into Gould’s life and work as we revisit the birth of a legend in the annals of recording.

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