Piano Virtuoso-ism

The theme that ties the three main characters in the novel together is piano playing and the desire to become famous piano virtuosos. Glenn Gould is the most important piano virtuoso of the century. The narrator, Wertheimer and Glenn Gould study under Horowitz at the Mozarteum. Wertheimer and the narrator learn a lot from Horowitz, but at the end of the course, it is obvious that Glenn Gould is the best piano player while the narrator and Wertheimer are equals. Glenn Gould possessed by his art. Glenn Gould plays "Goldberg Variations" at the Salzburg Festival, and the newspapers praise him greatly. The narrator discloses to Glenn Gould his fear of never seeing him again because of his piano radicalism, a term which Glenn Gould frequently uses afterward. Glenn Gould dies from an impasse that he plays himself into for forty years, though he never gives up playing...