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

[Juozas Rimas <JuozasRimas@TAKAS.LT>]

It's very interesting to know Gould's humming is in fact a separate
contrapunctal part but I can't hear anything sensible when listening to his
humming-accompanied recordings. It may be my lack of attention but it has more
to do with the quality of the recording, I think. Even on a CD, I cannot hear
Gould's humming all the time. I wonder how Sean could extract the contrapunctal
humming part or even write it down(?). Sometimes he is humming too softly and
the piano completely blocks any other sounds.

I must be not a super-fan of Gould (although he is definitely my favorite
performer after my father :)) and do not regard humming as a positive element of
his recordings. It's interesting, peculiar, sometimes matching the climax in a
piece and therefore logical, but all in all I don't agree Gould's performances
would lose much or anything at all without the humming ingredient.

Humming is especially unwelcome in the pieces that require exceptional
concentration from the listener (eg Kunst Der Fuge or any other, depending on
the listener's attitude).

Juozas Rimas Jr
http://mp3.com/JuozasRimas