I've always considered Glenn Gould to be the greatest instrumentalist in the history of classical music. My reasons for thinking this probably belong on my other blog, so I'll keep them brief here. Basically, it's my opinion that no other artist so thoroughly challenged preconceived notions of the performer's role in written-down music to the degree that he did. He questioned every aspect of music with unparalleled intensity, and while the results (both musically and philosophically) didn't always please everyone, they were never less than fascinating.

OK, to my reason for writing about him on this blog: On Monday evening, I watched the PBS American Masters program, entitled "Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould", which mentioned, along with many other interesting facts about his life, that he was a great lover of Shakespeare. Apparently he enjoyed reading the plays aloud with certain of his friends, and Richard II was both his favourite play and part to perform (for reasons that went unexplained, and which I'll no doubt puzzle over in the days ahead). This led me to add another to the list of the reasons for my continually strengthening belief in the value of reading Shakespeare: Because it is composed of challenging thinking, it leads to more of the same in the lives and works of its readers.

Over the last couple of years, PBS has broadcast productions of King Lear starring Ian McKellan, Hamlet with David Tennant and Macbeth with Patrick Stewart. All three were splendid, with inspired performances from the lead actors and thoughtful interpretations by directors and casts. McKellen's Lear, for example, is so intense that at certain points I feared for his safety. It's a daring and exuberant performance, even by his standards. It's still available for online viewing at the PBS Great Performances website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/king-lear/watch-the-play/487/.

Tennant's Hamlet is equally "wild and whirling", full of humour and originality. Patrick Stewart is excellent as Claudius as well, and it's interesting to compare his work in the role with the one he did thirty years earlier in the BBC production starring Derek Jacobi. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available for online viewing in Canada at this point - if I do find it, I'll let you know right away, but libraries will have it.

Finally, the recent version of Macbeth, with Patrick Stewart in the title role, might be the best filmed version I've seen, which is saying something because this play has been done very well many times over. It's not to be missed: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/macbeth/watch-the-full-program/1030/