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Re: Much Ado About Humming - Glenn Gould's Imaginary Orchestra



At 05:59 PM 4/17/01 -0700, Sean Malone wrote:
    As with many, GG's humming captured my attention and eventually became
an accepted part of his recordings for me. But one day I noticed that there
was a selection when he wasn't singing part of the written score, and that
was the literal "light bulb." To make a long story short, I began
transcribing the vocalizations and compared them to the score and was amazed
to find that often GG was humming an independent contrapuntal part. From
this point forward it was no longer the stuff of ridicule, but an
extraordinary insight into how GG conceptualized music, but also an aspect
to the cognitive functions of the musical mind.

Sounds great!


Some possibly related areas:

- Has anyone analyzed Toscanini's humming for thematic content? Rudolf Serkin's? Keith Jarrett's? Those too could be interesting!

- Did GG know any of the Frescobaldi capriccios? In some of them Frescobaldi set himself a specific compositional restriction to be explored. There's one of bizarre dissonances. There's one where the voices never move by step (only by leap). There's one where suspensions resolve upward. There's one on the Cuckoo. And most along GG's line, there's the Capriccio Where One Must Sing the Fifth Part. (No, I'm NOT making this up.) That one is usually done bringing a separate singer in to do the solfege, though Frescobaldi probably intended it to be sung by the keyboard player as a challenge. (I heard Edward Parmentier play/sing it that way on an organ dedication recital...he chose to sing it in countertenor range but it can also be done in baritone or tenor range.) This would seem to be an ideal GG vehicle: let him sing an independent part unashamedly while playing four other contrapuntal parts!

- Did GG ever figure out what the unplayed theme of Elgar's "Enigma Variations" was, and sing it while listening?

- Did GG (or anyone else) ever play through "Winterreise" the way Schubert performed it, simultaneously singing the solo and playing the piano part? Who would be equipped to do so? (Nat King Cole? Harry Connick? Diana Krall? Billy Joel?) I've tried some of it for fun, but have a poor singing voice.

    "Gould's humming, often a different melody from any of the composed
parts, is evidence of his creative mind at work as a composer.  Gould was
not only aware of the surface material, that is, the notes themselves, but
was also aware of a larger framework of background structure manifested in
the independent lines of his humming.  Gould may have visualized a
large-scale, amodal image of the composition¹s structure ­ an abstract
conception of themes, climaxes, and form, etc.  ­ transcending the tactile
and physical requirements of performing the piece.  A performance to Gould
seemed not only to involve an erudite technical and artistic interpretation,
but also an additional level of engagement that set him inside of the
composition; his performance thus became an exposition of musical
structure."

Well said.


- Does GG's humming ever line up with Schenkerian analysis?



Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
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