A Romance on Three Legs – Katie Hafner

Paperback available in April, 2009 at $10.88, Hardcover - $16.49
Non-Fiction

Buy it if: You want a peek at the men and machines behind the concert pianist's curtain

Don’t buy it if: You’re looking for a biography of Glenn Gould

The relationship between artist and instrument can be a very ethereal thing. On the one hand, Jimmy Page pulled sounds out of his cheap-o Danelectro guitar nightly that I couldn’t get out of a ’57 Les Paul…but on the other, a master of their craft should have an instrument worthy of their performance. For Glenn Gould – a man noted for his obsessions and idiosyncrasies – finding his soulmate in a piano was no easy task. Katie Hafner’s A Romance on Three Legs is the story of this search and the fascinatingly unique world in which it was conducted.

So much has been written about Glenn Gould already that if you’re looking for details of his oddities you should probably travel elsewhere. The genius-touched-by-madness theme is a central one that plays well on Main Street, but this book explores the world of Steinway piano building and dealing, piano technician schools for the blind, and an industry bending over backwards to cater to the whims of a select few high-end concert pianists. And while focusing on Gould and his favorite Steinway gives the book its audience, it’s these other storylines – being woven in and out of the quest – that make for such captivating reading. In the end, the famous pianist is only one of a host of fascinating ‘characters’ that include Verne Edquist, his nearly blind personal tuner, the Steinway Piano company and even Eaton’s, the Toronto department store where Gould preferred to record.

This is a narrative for the hopeless romantic, a sucker for a love story. In essence, that’s the story being told – the tale of a man and his greatest relationship. It just happens to be with an 88-keyed concert grand. How they came to be together, the music they made, the trips they took… Change ‘piano’ to ‘woman’ and you might expect to see Jane Austen’s name on the cover.

Every ‘concert level’ grand piano made by Steinway is given a unique number, a designation indicating both its uniqueness and quality. Hafner tracks the movements of various pianos against the players who performed on them, showing how Gould and his not-yet-beloved “CD 318” were often ships passing in the night, two personalities that brush up against each other at a party before meeting again under different circumstances. Despite sounding impossibly anthropomorphic, it’s a very effective way to demonstrate the emotional connection that grows between musician and favored instrument. When pianist and piano finally do connect, it’s the prelude to a romance (the title fits perfectly) that is to experience the ups and downs, the joys and tragedies, that make for moving drama, instead of dry documentation.

At a tight 232 pages, this book succeeds by only referencing Glenn Gould’s famed weirdness as a way to put events into context. The author’s eyes rarely come off the paradoxical prize – that one of the world’s most famous pianists simply can’t be satisfied by perhaps the world’s most famous piano manufacturer. And instead of filling pages with well-known facts and rumors about Gould, she peppers the book with details of the piano industry that I – a known lover of obscure trivia – found simply fascinating. Steinway pianos at the time had no set plans?! Apparently the carved wooden bodies were simply assembled from memory, with older craftsmen educating younger generations along the way… Unbelievable. Gould’s innovative use of multi-track splicing, the decades old ‘pygmy’ chair – missing a seat and held together by tape – that was the only piece of furniture upon which Gould would consent to perform... This kind of knowledge dovetails in perfectly and gives the book its true dimension.

The fascinating world of famous pianists and the instruments that provided their voices is portrayed vividly in the book, with an elegance that draws all the details together and paints a final scene that is truly enlightening without being at all cumbersome. It’s like being allowed to eavesdrop on conversations that happened 50 years ago and hear notes that have long since faded. As I’ve come to expect from the greatest concerts, I was a little sad it had to end, but well satisfied by the experience.

Red, White and Drunk All Over – Natalie Maclean

Non-Fiction
Paperback from Amazon.com - $3.99!!

Buy it if: You have a casual interest in wine but not enough to pore over the Wine Advocate or learn French.

Don’t buy it if: You’re either an intense oenophile or don’t care at all about the difference between Chardonnay and Syrah

There are hundreds of wine ‘How-To’ books lining the shelves of your local Barnes and Noble and filling the pages of Amazon.com. They range from massive ‘wine bible’ catalogs to oenophile-catering niche titles that tell tales of obscure chateaus and famous bottles of dusty Petrus that you’ll never get to try anyway… But Natalie Maclean somehow manages to bridge these two worlds with an excitement, enthusiasm and depth that is neither patronizing of those with some background on the subject, nor over-reaching for the casual drinker with a minor interest in fermented grape juice. In short, it’s the perfect book for those with a passing interest in wine that really don’t want to dedicate hours (and dollars) towards tastings, trips to out-of-the-way shops and hundreds upon hundreds of wine reviews. If you want to get excited about wine without feeling intimidated, she nails it.

Despite coming in at just a bit over 300 pages, the book moves quickly. Educational sections flow into travelogues detailing her visits with the vibrant characters that populate the wine world – wine sellers, sommeliers and wine makers to name a few. And each trip is elegantly used to explore some other aspect of wine, so that by the end the journey she's left you both excited and educated. It’s a very ‘learn by doing’ approach that’s the vinous equivalent of Apex Technical Institute, the ubiquitous DeVry knockoff that gives you a different tool at the completion of each course, leaving you with some basic equipment to complement the degree. Not only does Maclean make wine intriguing, she gives you a vocabulary and history that makes further personal exploration a much less daunting prospect.

Even better, Natalie isn’t trying to be objective. She has opinions and encourages the reader to have them, too. She makes it personal in the best kind of way. While much snootier wine-writing focuses on the tasting and tasting only, she discusses the elephant in the wine cellar that most ‘serious’ wine writers seem to avoid: It’ll get you buzzed – flat-out drunk if you want - and it’s OK to enjoy that aspect of wine drinking as well. One can’t help but get the feeling that if your ideal drinking experience is getting quietly soused with a bottle of Yellow Tail Merlot while watching ‘The Bachelor’ on TV she’ be completely supportive – provided you have a good reason for your choice. And if you don’t, it’s time to give her a read, as you might have a good deal of fun finding a better beverage to accompany your viewing experience.

Make no mistake, Natalie Maclean is very well-respected wine critic and offers her own Robert Parker-esque newsletter for public consumption. (Nataliemaclean.com) But her welcoming writing style and approachable explanations give you the sense that she’s on your side, which isn’t something you get from a lot of food writers. And there’s a story, that makes my day every time.

This is easily one of the best books I read in 2008. To borrow from the wine review style: I’d give it a 93/100 with notes of ease and intrigue that aren’t masked by over-metaphored phrasing. Light at first taste before gaining significant depth. The only thing missing is a longer finish.