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Re: GG: Humming



Bardolph, have we taken our medication today?

jv wrote:

    I can't believe what I'm reading - where are the legions of fans of
wonderful piano playing who become simply murderous with rage every time GG
opens his goddamned trap with that awful humming and singing?  I recall
trying to listen to the Goldberg Variations, and briefly being transported
to musical Paradise, before that horrible sound intruded itself and I was
dropped rudely back to earth.  I tried a few more recordings before damning
Gould and his humming to hell.

    It's incredible that he got away with issuing such recordings.  We can
only hope that some day his entire recorded output will be edited
electronically to render the voice inaudible; my guess is that the
technology to do so already exists.  Before too long, no doubt, affordable
PC software will allow individuals to do this; I shall certainly keep my
eyes peeled, and god willing, one day I will be able to hear Gould's
interpretations of great composers' piano music without being continually
and boorishly reminded of the presence of The Artist.  When Horowitz played,
he kept his mouth shut, and the result, for the listener, was inevitably the
same: equal reverence for the interpreter and the composer.  Technology will
allow this same happy state of affairs to exist in Gould's case.

Bardolph