Can Silence Be Heard?

[goldentone]

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes--ah, that is where the art resides!  --Arthur Schnabel

Schnabel's quote is probably a good starting point, though my question is a bit different, and addresses the larger pauses in music that can be defined or recognized as silence.  My question is, can a pianist's silences actually be heard?  Can a person's soul inform the silence, give it a quality of presence and character, and use it as a means of communicating through the silence itself, though it is naturally woven into the music?  I think it can, and it is something I would like to be able to do.  Do you think this is a reality or possibility?  Have you heard this before in a performance?  I'd like to know your thoughts.

[camstrings]

Two such lovely examples: Kissin playing Schumann's Abegg Variations op.1 on his Carnegie Hall recording & Gould/Laredo in Bachs 2nd violin sonata 2nd mvt.
I'm sure there are many examples in Gould's 2nd Goldberg recording & Art of Fugue Contrapunctus 1 has a very effective example where watching Gould adds to the effect.

[mrwasabibird]

In the sense that the direction and energy of the phrase carries through the rest.