by Jennifer van Alstyne

“It is a travel companion, without whom I cannot work, without whom I cannot play.  I have been using it for twenty-one years, this…thing – that we could also classify as a chair!”
—Glenn Gould

Counted companion closer than Bach,

Cut off at legs for optional half-turnbuckle

Adjustment, is built by beloved hands.

Bert Gould adds four brackets on bridge chair,

Treasured by son who wore through wicker

With constant use.  Soon, only the frame remains,

Carried folded under arm from studio to stage.

A ‘theme’ is a complete tune or melody which is of fundamental importance to a piece of music (Naxos).

Jennifer van Alstyne is winner of The Glenn Gould Foundation’s Aria of the Goldberg Variations Contest celebrating the 60th anniversary of the 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations for ‘Maestoso’ and ‘Theme’