Gould’s heavily marked-up Bach score surfaces after nearly 40 years

Few classical recordings have aroused as much fascination as Glenn Gould’s 1981 take on Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Gould, whose first major-label recording was a classic 1955 account of the “Goldbergs,” re-recorded them more than 25 years later. He then died, at 50, just after the release — leaving the two Bach statements as bookends to his career.

Now the score he used while making the 1981 recording has resurfaced, offering clues about the creative process of one of the most original pianists of the 20th century.

The heavily marked-up score — which will be offered at auction Dec. 5 at Bonhams in New York — shows the nearly obsessive attention to detail that Gould was famous for, especially after he stopped giving live performances in order to focus entirely on making recordings.

“I would call this the equivalent of a shooting script of a movie,” said critic Tim Page, a professor of music and journal- ism at the University of Southern California and the editor of The Glenn Gould Reader.

“He keeps track of which takes he likes and how long they are.”

Gould’s jottings, mostly in black felt-tip pen, are not always legible. They mostly appear to be notes he made to himself as he assembled takes of the recording.

He calls for a “wee shade less” in one section, regularly marks the timings of various takes and seems to refer to a film he was shooting at the time of himself playing the Goldbergs.

There are few obvious interpretive notes, but he does circle the rests in one variation, as if for emphasis. Page, who discussed the differences between the 1955 and the 1981 recordings in an interview with Gould that is included in the boxed set Glenn Gould: A State of Wonder, said that after examining the score earlier this year, he had no doubts as to its authenticity. (The seller has asked to remain anonymous.)

Page said that he had asked Bonhams to make a high-quality copy of the newly rediscovered score, which the auction house estimates could sell for $100,000 to $150,000, to offer to the National Arts Center in Ottawa.

There, he said, “it will be available to scholars and anyone who wants to see it.”

Gould’s jottings appear to be notes he made to himself as he assembled takes of the recording.