Das Buch mit Eigenschaften, ohne Titel
Attention all German-speaking GG fans. AROTL is going to be published in Germany in March by Schott Music, the renowned German publisher of all things musical.
The translation is nearly finished, but there is still no title.
In English, the title works beautifully (and it was actually Gould’s own description of his relationship with the piano). But it doesn’t translate well in German, in part because in German a piano’s legs are actually called Füsse, so “A Romance on Three Feet” would be strange indeed. The literal German translation would be “Eine Liebesgeschichte auf Drei Füssen,” which sounds like something written by a madwoman.
So we’re stumped. Which is why we (Stefan, the editor at Schott, Matthias, the translator, and I) decided to throw the problem out to the world of GG lovers.
Assignment: Come up with a German title for the book.
Deadline: December 1.
Reward: Your name in the acknowledgments of the German edition, a copy when it comes out, and the satisfaction of having done something truly creative — and helpful!
Whistler, Canada!
AROTL is the November pick for “Whistler Reads,” a book group in Whistler, BC, a small town two hours north of Vancouver.
Whistler appears to be a community of serious readers, with an heavily-trafficked Web site called BookBuffet.
Paula Shackleton, the founder of Whistler Reads and BookBuffet, has interviewed hundreds of authors. We had a wonderful interview [...]
SF Public Library
I had a wonderful evening on Thursday at the San Francisco Public Library, speaking to a group of classical music enthusiasts. I had the presence of mind to bring my little speakers with me, along with my iPod that I had loaded with the 80-CD Complete Original Jacket Collection. During the talk, I played Variation [...]
Google Author Talk
Last Wednesday, I gave a talk at Google as part of its ongoing series of author talks. It was, of course, a pleasure and an honor. Leave it to Google to do everything right. I was very pleasantly surprised by the turnout, and delighted to see that very few people who showed up were multitasking [...]
London
On August 11, Bloomsbury in England will start selling the book in the U.K. This might have piqued the interest of producers at the BBC sufficiently to interview me on the Today Programme. Since I’m in England anyway, it made sense to do the interview sooner rather than later. So yesterday I ventured out to [...]
West Coast Live
Saturday, July 5
Having never heard West Coast Live, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I was invited onto this San Francisco-based, two-hour weekly NPR program. It turned out to be was of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in months.
The guest host was Mike Greensill, a pianist (aka “the man who knows the [...]
Back in California
Alameda, July 2
On Wednesday evening, a nice crowd gathered at John Callahan’s piano restoration shop in Alameda for a book reading and a couple of hours of piano playing. The occasion was the sendoff of a beautiful 1910 flame mahogany Steinway Model O owned by the Cornland family [...]
Faust Harrison in New York
On Wednesday night I did a reading at Faust Harrison Pianos on West 58th Street in New York. Erica vanderLinde Feidner, a fine pianist who for years was Steinway’s top salesperson, was the primary force behind setting up this reading. She is friends with Michael and Marina Harrison, who very generously kept their store open past [...]
New York
Last night’s reading at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble was mind boggling. There was a line snaking out the door — at least 250 people, maybe more. It was like a miniature rock concert, only more intense (once you get a bunch of book lovers in one small space, there’s no predicting what they’ll [...]
Ottawa, June 19
Gilles St-Laurent, the musician and conservator from the Library and Archives Canada (and a lovely Canadian in his own right) who helped so much with the book, came to the hotel this morning and together we set off for Quebec (just across the river, that is), to see the special Glenn Gould exhibit at the [...]
