Glenn Gould - Off the Record

This short documentary follows Glenn Gould to New York City. There, we see the renowned Canadian concert pianist kidding the cab driver, bantering with sound engineers at Columbia Records, and then, alone with the piano, fastidiously recording Bach's Italian Concerto.

This documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of his Symphony of Psalms.

This short documentary is a profile of Healey Willan, composer, conductor, choirmaster, organist and teacher. We follow Dr. Willan from his seat at his favourite organ in the church where he is choirmaster to his study where he works, and to a visit with his students at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Throughout, the sound of beautiful music accompanies Dr. Willan’s journeys.

This short film demonstrates how Howard Shore has distinguished himself as one of Canada's most accomplished - and versatile - composers.

During woodland rambles with his beloved dogs, Shore gives free rein to his ceaseless creativity. Whether composing delicate counterpoint or Oscar®-winning movie music, Shore is keenly tuned to a remarkable range of musical expression.

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2011 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

One of the world’s leading pianists and foremost interpreters of Bach’s music, Angela Hewitt appears in recital and with major orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia. This short film gives us a glimpse of Hewitt’s creative process as she interprets a Bach fugue—transforming the famed composer’s notoriously mathematical work into a musical experience that approaches the spiritual.

This short film portrays the story of singer Paul Anka, who rose from obscurity to become the idol of millions of adolescent fans around the world. Taking a candid look at both sides of the footlights, this film examines the marketing machine behind a generation of pop singers. Interviews with Anka and his manager reveal their perspective on the industry.

A short film featuring pianist Anton Kuerti. The virtuoso demonstrates the inner workings of a grand piano, pulling out his tool kit to make minute adjustments before a performance. Made in 2008, it commemorates Kuerti receiving the Governor General’s Performing Artist Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

This documentary short is a portrait of violinist, composer and dreamer Maurice Zbriger, who shared his music with Montrealers for over half a century. He hired musicians and singers and conducted them in free concerts financed with income from his ownership of Schwartz's, the famous smoked meat restaurant. The Concert Man looks at Zbriger's life, his passion for music and the people who were a part of his dream.

This short documentary features Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester as she sings at the Festival Casals, a musical event founded by the great Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals and sponsored annually by the Puerto Rican government. Part concert film, part tourism film, Festival in Puerto Rico offers viewers candid glimpses of mid-20th century Puerto Rico intercut with performance footage of Forrester and her husband, violinist-conductor Eugene Kash.

Bryan Adams is one of world’s most enduringly popular singer/songwriters. He is most at home in his Vancouver studio, surrounded by his collection of vintage microphones and guitars. Adams calls it “a very analog space in a very digital world.” In this short documentary, we witness an intimate rendition of his song “One World, One Flame” and hear him speak of his audience-centred approach to performance: “I want it to be fun, I want it to be real.”

This micro-epic short film is an inspired tribute to visionary avant-garde composer Walter Boudreau: his life, work, mischief, and boundless artistic curiosity. Both a documentary biopic and a wildly abstract hallucination, the film conceives of Walter Boudreau as a radical explorer, struggling against the inert mass of the cosmos, charting bold new paths of artistic freedom and audaciously expanding the frontiers of our known musical universe.

Produced by the NFB in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2015 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.