The characters make this creative non-fiction book about Glenn Gould's search for the perfect piano. There is Gould himself, of course. The author does not make a judgment about his mental health, letting his actions speak to the reader. Think the character of the detective Adrian Monk from the popular TV series. To me Gould seems to have obsessive-compulsive character disorder as well as being borderline autistic.
Gould could not find a perfect piano with a piano tuner-technician to keep it perfect, and that character is the practically blind piano tuner Verne Edquist. Edquist's story is, to me, as fascinating as Gould's. Raised on a poor farm in Saskatchewan, he was forced to attend a school for the blind where he learned the rudiments of his trade, working his way up through the ranks of piano tuners to become the best.
The third major character of the book is the piano itself, one of the few Steinways manufactured during the war years when the factory was re-tooled for the war effort. That it was constructed at all seems a miracle. Gould found it languishing in a department store in Canada. He was looking for a super-light action and a clean sound, and it was Edquist that brought that sound out of the piano.
A lot of fascinating details are also revealed about the Steinway Artist program as it existed after the Second World War. Once an artist signed an exclusive contract with Steinway they were supplied with pianos and even piano tuners when they toured.
Unfortunately, shipping Gould's Steinway led to the end of it's useful life, at least for Gould. It was dropped five feet on a loading dock and the plate was cracked. After it was rebuilt, even Edquist was unable to get it back to the pre-accident condition that Gould obsessively desired.
This is a non-fiction book, so the facts get in the way of a happy ending, but it's still a fascinating account of two interesting men and the piano they shared.
Link to Amazon: A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano
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