GG: newbie with questions

[Mike Flemmer <mikejf@freewwweb.com>]

Hi,

This is my first posting and I just saw GG's Goldberg
Variations video from 1981 and needless to say,
I'm in total shock and awe.  Astonishing accomplishment
and virtuosity. I will wear out this video in a short time!

I have a bunch of questions and thought I would just
list them all here- answer any you can, I'd appreciate it.

Here is what I know about GG. I've seen these videos:
- Glenn Gould, A Portriat
- The Goldberg Variations (1981),
- A Question of Instrument, and
- An Art of the Fugue.

I've read "Glenn Gould at Work, Creative Lying" by Kazdin.

Here are my questions:

1. Is "Glenn Could, A Life and Variations" by Otto
Friedrich a good book to read next?  I have access
to it.  If not, what should I read next?  I want to
know the gritty details, not the fluff.

2. In the 1981 GV's video- is GG playing on a Yamaha
or Steinway?

3. What video should I get next?  Is there anything comparible
to the GV's video?  Does he perform on any video, the complete
WTC, Partitas, Concertos or any other complete works?

4. How often did GG have the piano strings changed, if ever?

5. Did GG ever marry or have children ?  Was he ever
photographed with a girlfriend at his side?

6. In the Portrait video, it was suggested he could sight
read flawlessly.  But, isn't it very likely that GG knew
a lot of music that he never recorded?   And that his
'flawless' sight reading ability is due to being familar with
the music from before?

7. Is GG's claim that he never practised true?   This seems
impossible to verify.  If he lived alone and owned several
pianos, certainly he practised in his apartment quite often?
He may have pracitised 8 hours a day for all we know?

8. In the Portrait video I learned that GG was interested
in philosophical issues and writing.  Was GG a true pioneer
in anything philosophical?  Was he the orginator of something
we all know of today (animal rights maybe?)  that he doesn't
get the credit for?   Or, in the end, was he mostly an entertainer?
He was certainly a gentle person, who seeks peace in the world.
Was that his basic message?  Create and seek peace?

9. Did he ever write his biography, or start on it?

10. Was his penthouse apartment vacated after his death?
Who lives in his penthouse apartment now?  Has anyone
here ever been inside it?

11. In the Portrait video, his father says they never forced
GG to practise.  We know GG's mother was his first
teacher.  Do we know what approached she used?
It was stated that wrong notes were not allowed. Did
his mother require GG to practise scales?  Was his
mother ever interviewed on these details?

12. Is the GV's video available in DVD?

Ok, that's enough questions for now!  Thanks
in advance for any replies!

Regards,
Mike