Glenn Gould

[rph108]

I was listening to a recording of his and it sounds like he is singing with the melody sometimes. It was on one of his wtc recordings. I was just wondering if anyone else has heard this.

[abe]

he sings the melody on most of his recordings. He played better that way. It's one of his little eccentricities.

[donjuan]

I find it most annoying.  He isnt a very good singer either!!
However, I highly enjoy Jeno Jando's recording of Hungarian Rhapsody No.10, when he yells out during the glissando sequence.

[Rach3]

It's not singing, its sort of humming. Has anyone here seen the choral conductor Joseph Flummerfelt? He hums louder than the orchestra, even in performance. Fun to watch, though.

[Motrax]

I love Glenn Gould's humming! It most definitely adds to the music. Makes it more human, brings it down-to-Earth.  

[pies]

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[Fastzuernst]

Glenn Gould was obsessed with singing while he performed and practiced. In most of his recording you can hear a faint humming. Some of the technicians who recorded Gould were able to cut out some of this "singing" but usually one can still hear him. He wouldn't even consider being silent, as he used to cancel concerts if he had a cold that would prevent him from singing.

[Lacrimosa]

When Gould was 13, he was practicing Mozart's k 394 fuge in C minor, when of a sudden the maid began to vacuum the rug.
'Well, the result was', Glenn Gould later said, 'that in the louder passages, this luminously diatonic music became surrounded with a halo of vibrato, rather the effect that you might get if you sang in the bathtub with both ears full of water and shook your head from side to side all at once. And in the softr passages I couldn't hear any sound that I was making at all. I could feel, of course - I could sense the tactile relation with the keyboard... and I could imagine what I was doing, but I couldn't actually hear it. But the strange thing was that all of it suddently sounded better that it had without the vacuum cleaner, and those parts which I couldn't actually hear sounded best of all'.

Gould's humming doesn't bother me; I think it has something to do with how much I adore Glenn the person. However, I have tried humming myself while I perform, and I find the opposite effect: I have to be totally silent and motionless while performing, or else I really have no clue what sound I'm producing.
I have noticed some humming on recordings by other muscians, too: Toscanini & Alfred Brendle.
PS mybe you should retitle this thread 'Gould's Humming'.

[rph108]

What exactly are you trying to say? The vaccum changed his hearing somehow?

[bernhard]

What exactly are you trying to say? The vaccum changed his hearing somehow?

Considering Gould’s er… peculiar interpretation of the Mozart Sonatas, it may be a good idea to turn a vacuum cleaner on when listening to them.

[Saturn]

I love Glenn Gould's humming! It most definitely adds to the music. Makes it more human, brings it down-to-Earth.  

Makes it more human?  What does that mean?  Could music possibly be anything other than human?

[Lacrimosa]

What exactly are you trying to say? The vaccum changed his hearing somehow?

I'm not saying anything: Glenn Gould said it himself.

[rph108]

Im just not sure exactly what you were trying to say, that he said.

[Lacrimosa]

Im just not sure exactly what you were trying to say, that he said.

I mentioned that quote becuase I think I helps to explian why Gould would sing during performances. If you play something on the piano, and sing at the same time, you won't be able to hear what your playing as clearly: it'll sound like when you're 'in the bathtub with both ears full of water'. I think what Glenn was saying was that this distance from the actual sound being reproduced allowed him to better convey, somehow, the music as it was  in his head. Maybe it helped him concentrate on the tactile aspects - I don't know, because I don't find that singing while I perform in any way enhances the music, personally.

[rph108]

oh, ok. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Piazzo22]

Maybe it helped him concentrate on the tactile aspects

I think he only "touched" the keys all the time, so the tactile response isn´t much of a deal with him. He always played effortlessly, too much for my taste.

[ericlc]

I prefer the term "crooning."

[ericlc]

Glenn Gould..."effortlessly"? I don't know -- you might want to take a much closer look at his playing sometime. In the intensely musical passages, oftentimes Gould's entire body seems rather tense, likely a response to the emotional aspects to the music....and his fingerwork is the most deliberate,precise, and active than almost any artist I can think of. It's quite possible that it eventually became effortless for Gould, but I don't think most human beings can develop such active fingering even with the most effort their body can handle.

[mtmccarthy]

I like Gould as a person (though not personally), so his humming and such I find somewhat humorous, and not bothersome at all. It's one of his trademarks. He does hum in practically every recording, and if you don't hear it in a particular piece, it's probably because it was edited out. Generally, I find that his interpretations, if not "acceptable" by normal standards, are at least interesting and fun to listen to. His Mozart Fantasie in d minor would be a good example of this, I think... has anyone here heard it, by chance? If you don't laugh at it, you'll loathe it. (I can upload it to my webspace if someone here asks.)

My teacher said that he played much of his Mozart like an ambitious toddler. I'm not sure if I would go so far myself, but I did think that was funny.

But, regarding his humming, I do remember reading that when Glenn was very young, his mother (a piano teacher) would often play the piano in front of him, singing along with whatever piece she would be playing. So, chances are that when he himself started playing, he did the same from the start. It seems like  this humming was ingrained into his actual piano playing technique from the start, so not to hum would be uncomfortable for him. I don't think he was doing it just to be annoying.

An interesting note is that when Glenn was just born, his parents said that, instead of crying as most babies do, he was humming.

If you haven't heard it yet, you can listen to him sing and play Strauss' Burleske for piano and orchestra at https://www.collectionscanada.ca/glenngould/m23-700-e.html. It's... er, hm. Listen to it. (You can also find a bunch of other recording sessions there which you might like.)

P.S. Hm... my first post...

[steveolongfingers]

Considering Gould’s er… peculiar interpretation of the Mozart Sonatas, it may be a good idea to turn a vacuum cleaner on when listening to them.

Very True.......very funny