GG: My story

["L. Lalonde" <llalonde@lightspeed.net>]

>
>      Oh, we would definitely like to hear that story (if I may be
>      so bold as to speak for others).  I was introduced to G.G.'s
>      music by a piano teacher, unsurprisingly.
>
I would love to hear it.  In the meantime, may I share my story?

My mother was actually the one who discovered him back in the late
50's.  She worked at Columbia Records in Santa Maria, CA.  She was
able to purchase with one of her first paychecks a new "stereo" record
player (the kind where the turntable dropped down between the two
speakers.)  Since she was also a classical music fan, she purchased a
Bach concerto album (which happened to be played by GG). She brought
home her purchases, loaded up the brand new album, and very quickly
noticed an odd sound resonating in the background.  She cleaned the
record, the needle, turned the record over, played the other side, but
still could not make out the irritating sound.

Finally, she took the stereo to the engineers at Columbia and asked
what the problem might be.  After careful examination, one of the
engineers, puzzled, asked, "Well what are you playing on it?"  She
showed the album (which was one of Columbia's own, of course).  He
looked at it and said rather matter-of-factly, "Oh yeah, that's Glenn
Gould.  He hums.  That's what he does."

Mom was furious!  How could anyone do such a thing?  It took a long
while before she got used to it.  It wasn't until about a year and a
half ago that she rediscovered GG.  Now the humming is a familiar, and
even enjoyable element to Glenn's recordings.

Lori Lalonde