RE: GG: Humming

["Daniel Vaiser" <vaiser@airmail.net>]

Fellow f-minors:

Regarding the "hum, or not to hum, that is the question. . . " conundrum, I
cannot for the life of me figure out what the big deal is with this humming
stuff.  Maybe I just don't understand the passion that compels you all to
have strong views on this subject; I hum when I do some chores and when I
play the piano but I never expected it to be the subject of a email thread.
Anyhow, hope to see you all at the Gathering; be well.

Humming regards from,
Daniel V.


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-f_minor@email.rutgers.edu
[mailto:owner-f_minor@email.rutgers.edu]On Behalf Of Russell Lichter
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 1:15 PM
To: f_minor@email.rutgers.edu
Subject: Re: GG: Humming


I must admit I have not been closely following the humming issue. And it
will surprise no one that I am therefore shocked at the very notion of
editing out Gould's humming. Blatant historical revisionist philistinism of
the most glaring sort, if you ask me. Taste, culture and respect cannot be
bought...or generated through the clever manipulation of digitized
information. "Ghoulish" is indeed the word.
Elmer Elevator wrote:
Dear Ms. Rudel,
Please accept my sympathies that you and Sony have inadvertently fallen into
the
violent controversy (on the Glenn Gould fan list f_minor) between the
Anti-Hummists and the Hummists. I'm a devout Hummist.
The wonderful guy hummed while he tickled the ivories, and from the moment I
first heard a Gould recording, I was entranced at his joy and enthusiasm --
he was
playing Mozart and he was a Happy Guy, and he made Happy Noises.
If my voice might have any weight in decisions to come, please do nothing
synthetic to edit out Gould's humming in future releases. Even the notion of
offering Humming and Non-Humming editions strikes me as bizarre and
insulting
to the artist's spirit and intentions -- for no one exercised such
meticulous control
over the ultimate sound of his recordings as Gould. Deleting this
intentional part of
his work after his death strikes me as a ghoulish posthumous betrayal of a
lifelong
respect and understanding between artist and label.
Sorry again that you've stumbled into a fight between obscure warring cults.
But
the Hummists are best!
Yours,
Bob Merkin
jv wrote:
I have just received an email from annette_rudel@sonymusic.com, part of
which I quote here:
"...Although the technology has long been available to edit out his
voice, there are as yet are no plans to do so. But, with so many Gould
fans asking for the release of edited versions of his recordings, it is
quite possible that Sony Classical and the Gould Estate will alter their
views sometime in the future."
I immediately replied saying I was such a fan, and that I would pay
premium prices for such versions of Gould's work.  I would ask all of
you who are of like mind to do the same; if we are successful, the
result will be that Gould's music will reach even greater numbers of
listeners.
Bardolph
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