[f_minor] Glenn Gould's humming

[Andy Gordon's UW]

I attended a spectacular Glenn Gould recital in Bridges Auditorium, Claremont CA in ~1962.  Frank Zappa, with whom I was then playing (pre Mothers of Invention), and I decided at the last minute to get tickets and were able to secure seats in the orchestra pit which they’d opened up for the overflow crowd.  

We were seated on the keyboard side, inches from Gould’s hands and from the stuffing hanging out of his stool, as he conducted himself and hummed along.  The whole recital (one of his last I believe) was magnificent; especially memorable to me were his interpretations of William Byrd.  

But I was with Frank — so at one point when Gould’s gesticulations and vocalizations were particularly dramatic, Zappa, mimicking a carnival barker, turned to me and whispered “He sings! He dances!”

Andy

----
The world is divided into two kinds of people: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.  ---Robert Benchley


Andrew Gordon, Professor
Evans School of Public Affairs
University of Washington
Box 353055 Parrington Hall
Seattle WA 98195-3055



> On Feb 28, 2015, at 10:02 AM, Anita Monroe <rubatoatm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm a fan of the humming too.  I actually heard him hum in 1959 when he played for a full audience of girls at Winthrop College.  Most of them
> didn't know any Bach and didn't know who that cute guy was.  I was sitting in the second row, could hear the humming, and watched as he
> looked rather angrily at the audience.  He was right to feel that way since there was giggling and talking that could easily be heard on the
> stage...
> 
> Anita
> 
> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 12:56 AM, Robert Merkin <bobmerk at earthlink.net <mailto:bobmerk at earthlink.net>> wrote:
> After several years of intense analysis, NASA supercomputers decoded the first message ever received from extraterrestrial intelligence. The message seems to have been a response to encountering our Voyager probe. It said:
> 
> SEND MORE CHUCK BERRY
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat" <pzumst at bluewin.ch <mailto:pzumst at bluewin.ch>>
> To: "John Hood" <johnhood at iinet.net.au <mailto:johnhood at iinet.net.au>>; "Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould." <f_minor at glenngould.org <mailto:f_minor at glenngould.org>>
> Sent: Friday, February 20, 2015 1:19 PM
> 
> Subject: Re: [f_minor] Glenn Gould's humming
> 
> 
> Keith Jarrett also has a massive problem with coughing and sneezing
> audiences....(while I have a problem with Jarrett as a performer and
> persona).
> 
> Mr. Gould's humming is rather charming I htink. I might be wrong but I was
> under the impression he was humming rather a lot during those Mozart
> Sonatas. What is that supposed to tell us ?
> 
> and, just in case...you might be one of the Anti-Hummers, 'ere's an old joke
> told so many times on f_minor like  Rob Merkin's NASA Voyager joke...but it
> might be new to the novices....
> 
> http://www.davegrossman.net/gould/ <http://www.davegrossman.net/gould/>
> 
> Pat
> 
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- From: John Hood
> Sent: Friday, February 20, 2015 1:47 PM
> To: Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
> Subject: Re: [f_minor] Glenn Gould's humming
> 
> Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett has quite a similar problem with utterances as he
> plays which can be quite annoying.
> 
> JH
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Elaine Parks" <elaine19c at yahoo.ca <mailto:elaine19c at yahoo.ca>>
> Sent: Friday, February 20, 2015 9:07 AM
> To: "Discussion of the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould."
> <f_minor at glenngould.org <mailto:f_minor at glenngould.org>>
> Subject: Re: [f_minor] Glenn Gould's humming
> 
> I like the humming too, and it's so interesting that he sometimes sounds
> out of key!
> 
> I noticed that some current classical performers make odd harrumphing
> breathing noises while performing (I witnessed this in a pianist and a conductor)
> and I am wondering if our tolerance for GG's extra sounds on record could have
> encouraged these fellows in this regard. Or has it become a fashionable
> eccentricity to exhibit such noises? In both instances I found it curious
> yet unappealing; in the case of the conductor, I left early!!!
> 
> Regarding a previous comment about GG's editing his work, my impression was that
> he defended the right to edit and loved to play at it for fun to demonstrate a point
> but in reality he actually didn't edit his pieces much...at the most tacking on a different
> beginning or ending now and then, or replacing a bad note. Anyone agree?
> 
> Elaine
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
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