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Posted by Paul S on
01-13-2008
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Sound was decent today but the electricity was just bad enough to bugger the music.
I tried to listen to a number of LPs and at one point Alicia De Larrocha was sounding pretty good; then it went away and I thought I'd just compare Gould's French Suites to ADL's, for something to do.
The copy of Gould I played was digitally remastered in 1984. This LP features the usual stretched (stereo) keyboard, and the perspective is opposite the piano, ie, Gould's right on my left as I face the speakers, with the "piano" about 15' away, in my room.
Then there is Gould's humming, nicely pitched and complete with vibrato, hard by the left speaker, about 7' away. Of course the original monos are not like this ('though I can't actually remember just how they are...).
Maybe other folks like that humming, however I admit I would like try him without it for a change. I wound up wondering why, if they bothered to isolate it, why didn't they just get rid of it?
Does anyone know if Gould insisted that the humming was part of his act, to be included in all his recordings?
I will re-listen to these suites (by Gould) when I find my originals (and when the electricity is better).
Best regards,
Paul S
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Posted by jessie.dazzle on
01-21-2008
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Quotes from Paul S in blue :
"...This LP features the usual stretched (stereo) keyboard..."
Man, I don't understand why they do this! There used to be a piano in my house, making it easy to compare real piano to recorded piano... The real piano NEVER sounded as if the sounding board spanned the entire width of the room!
Sometimes I play a full length (88-keys) synthesizer through the audio amps and the horns; connecting the synth via its left and right outputs does not result in the above-mentioned spacial garbage... Which I find even more insulting when applied to a drum kit! Its as if the drummer were running back and forth across the stage!
"...Then there is Gould's humming, nicely pitched and complete with vibrato..."
And then there is Mr. Kieth Jarret's humming!
Rather his un-containable "cries of joy" (not nicely pitched, often off-key, and at times sounding like bits of a porn clip). This just ruins it for me, as I start to take on responsibility for the acts of the performer, which makes me start to sweat! Ok, its his choice, but it might enlighten Mr. Jarret if someone were to separate out that part of the recording and play it back for him as one long a capella track !
![Keith_jarrett_piano[1].jpg](/Site_Images/Keith_jarrett_piano[1].jpg)
That said, as one can see in the photo, his piano is thankfully not miked for the stretched effect.
jd*
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Posted by JANDL100 on
01-26-2008
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 Paul S wrote: | Does anyone know if Gould insisted that the humming was part of his act, to be included in all his recordings?
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I read (somewhere ... probably a CD booklet!) that Gould hated his own humming but couldn't control it. He even visited a shrink to see if they could help (they couldn't).
Jerry
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Posted by Paul S on
01-26-2008
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If Gould hated his own humming and the engineers/producers could isolate and re-locate it, then why not just 86 it, for Pete's sake?!?
It seems to show, once again, that just because someone can record music and/or produce records it does not mean he is evolved in the sense that he even appreciates music as art (as opposed to a "product").
But maybe I'm reading too much into it. Perhaps the engineer, producer, whomever, simply digs it; or, they think we dig it?
Does anyone know of any GG recordings where the humming has been excised?
If the humming just has to be there then I would prefer it was at least "coming from Gould's mouth" in terms of perspective, rather than appearing as some sort of gratuitous, afterthough continuo.
Best regards,
Paul S
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