
Verne Edquist – Glenn Gould’s Piano Man - bookofjoe
https://www.glenngould.ca/verne-edquist/
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Gladdon
Speaking of Gould, I happen to have a previously unpublished recording of him
playing his own composition "Suite for Twelfth Night". This might seem like an
odd way of sharing it, but I've been putting it off for a long time because I
thought it would be properly published at some point. I now realize it's never
going to happen unless I do it myself, so here it goes:
[https://gofile.io/d/f5ORYZ](https://gofile.io/d/f5ORYZ)

If anyone wants to mirror it, that would be nice.

~~~
darylteo
I've forwarded this to a archivist who might hopefully be able to confirm it's
authenticity. =)

~~~
Gladdon
You can ask the CBC and/or Sony. They have a better version, but I wouldn't
hold my breath since they've never published it despite having it all this
time.

~~~
bergstromm466
How did you get your hands on it?

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jacquesm
"Years later, Verne often took to quoting his tuning teacher, J. D. Ansell,
whose favorite aphorism was “The only place where success comes before work is
in the dictionary.”"

That's a lovely line.

There is a similar person living in Toronto who tunes pianos for Lowrey, his
name is Mark Zillman. Incredibly good at what he does. This must be one of the
few professions where not being able to see well or at all is an advantage.

Edit: here is an article about him:

[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/mark-
zillmann-o...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/mark-zillmann-on-
working-as-a-blind-piano-tuner-in-toronto/article29297729/)

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daviddaviddavid
I have a 1964 recording of Bach's Two and Three Part of Inventions in which
the piano emits an audible double-tap hiccup/echo throughout the middle
register. It is pretty maddening. If I recall correctly from the CD liner
notes (remember those!), Gould apparently loved the character of the piano and
how close it was in character to harpsichord so much that the hiccup was
somehow alright with him. Which is completely bizarre to me because it sounds
like such a huge and obvious "bug". I wonder if Edquist worked on or had an
opinion on that piano.

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thirteenfingers
Man what an extraordinary guy. I love reading about people like Mr. Edquist
who kind of live in the shadow of great artists like GG and make their art
possible, especially when dealing with such artists requires a bit of head-
butting.

Highly recommend the author's book "A Romance On Three Legs", which she
mentions in the article.

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tzs
There was an interesting article in Scientific American 25 years ago about a
shortage in expert piano technicians for supporting concert pianists. Very few
people were apprenticing, and the only US bachelor's degree program in piano
technology had just shut down.

I wonder if the situation has improved since then?

Here's a reprint of that article:
[http://www.its.caltech.edu/~boyk/essay.htm](http://www.its.caltech.edu/~boyk/essay.htm)

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
The UK still runs a couple of courses, one 3 years full time. But it's an
increasingly rare profession.

Beginner/amateur-level acoustic pianos have largely been replaced by
electronic instruments. In fact it's almost impossible to give them away. Some
homes still have them, but there are far fewer than there were twenty years
ago.

I know the concert tuners who work in Leeds, and there's enough professional
work for roughly one and a half people.

Even in London the total number of tuners serving the Royal College, Royal
Academy, the concert halls and opera houses, recording studios, and the other
music colleges is under double figures.

~~~
bityard
> Beginner/amateur-level acoustic pianos have largely been replaced by
> electronic instruments. In fact it's almost impossible to give them away.

One of my hobbies is watching the free section on Craigslist. Perfectly good
(sometimes quite beautiful) pianos are one of the things that show up with
surprising regularity. Always with the caveat, "Must take it away yourself."

