Glenn Gould plays Bach

Hah, that is an excellent book. I remember it pissed off one of my friends who claimed that slow practice is the best way to learn. Glad I didn't listen to him, I use these techniques when learning all kinds of stuff. Glenn Gould practiced by playing fast: ▶ this video

It is vast, you are right. But it is not all a sacred tome. There are a lot of different styles of composition, some which you, depending on tastes, will simply not like, just like any other music. The mainstays of popular classical music, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven all practically defined the 3 main "periods" of the genre; Baroque, Classical, and Romantic respectively (though Beethoven is often considered as somewhat of a bridge between late classical and romantic, details..). Thus each of these periods has a unique character and sound, which is as distinct as different genres of modern music, despite mostly using the same instruments. It is unfortunate that all that variety has been slapped the label of "classical", and somewhat ironic, considering the Classical period of classical music was seen at the time as a reaction to the "overly complex, aristocratic", style of baroque. It was the pop music of its day, now of course regarded as somewhat elitist. Anyways, I'm somewhat of the Glenn Gould opinion that Mozart is mostly trash (though his keyboard concertos are pure gold). I suppose the wannabe elitist in me gravitates towards baroque, it's intricacy, specifically counterpoint. If the idea of multiple independent melodies playing at the same time, transforming and complementing each other like some kind of musical puzzle fascinates you, as it does me, then I'd suggest binging on some sweet J.S. Bach. You've surely heard BWV 565 at least once every Halloween, and a few of

Amen! For anyone unfamiliar with Glenn Gould, check out these two videos: ▶ this video link He was perhaps the greatest piano player of the 20th century and had a strong hacker/genius/Aspergers aspect. My favorite quote about him comes from Composer Dimitry Tolstoy: "Gould was an alien on this Earth. People simply cannot play the piano like that!" link