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Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” framed Glenn Gould’s recording career and came to define him in ways that he would not have foreseen when he chose the work in 1955 as the vehicle for his Columbia Masterworks (now Sony Classical) debut. Then 22 years old, Gould had been playing the work for five years, and though he was fascinated with it, he did not consider it his signature piece. He regarded himself more as a Beethoven and new-music pianist. Moreover, the “Goldbergs” and their composer were generally regarded, at the time,…