GG: Sex, Pianos and Audiotape

[John Hill <jphill@home.com>]

"Anne M. Marble" wrote:

> "I gazed at CD 318, heartbroken. It was time to say farewell. Yet surely no
> one would ever replace her. ... Several hours later, at the Yamaha store,
> the proprietor tried to interest me in several new models. They were fresh
> and shiny, full of the joy of youth. Yet none of them fascinated me. I was
> distraught, disconsolate. And then, in a darkened back corridor of the
> store, I saw her. A battered, abused soul. A used Yamaha. She reminded me
> of my first love, the Chickerling. The staff tried to dissuade me. But I
> recognized the passions. I was giddy with love again." :->

Anne, I love your posts, but that fabrication above struck me as *really*
un-Gouldian!

I don't ever remember GG "feminizing" his pianos in that way or equating
his relationship to the instrument as being akin to sexual involvement.

One could make the argument, of course, that his performances involve
a lot of sexual energy being sublimated toward other ends.  But I don't
recall GG ever referring to his pianos as females.  Indeed, it seems much
more likely that he would refer to the Steinway as "good old 318" or
"a resilient old chap" or something in a similarly WASP-ish faux-
British, 50's-Torontonian kind of bent.  I could be wrong, of course.

It would be interesting to look at Gould's use of sexual references
in his own work.  He certainly made reference to "feminine cadences"
and that type of thing (a holdover from studies at the Royal Conserv.
no doubt) but for the most part, this type of language is rare for him.
One of the few exceptions would be his comment on the Brahms
Intermezzos recording as being "sexy" (which, ironically, seemed
very appropriate).

Then again there was that period in his 20s around the time of the
Jock Caroll photos where he did seem a bit more jaunty, racy and
anxious to shed the relative conservatism of "Toronto the Good".

cheers,
jh