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© Mar 2021. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the associated terms available at http://www.mtosmt.org/about.html

Abstract

The audible creaking of Glenn Gould’s loose-jointed piano chair has historically been the subject of apologetic liner notes and recording studio memoirs. These chair creaks are here recognized as “sounded movements” of Gould’s body. This article triangulates the score of Schoenberg’s Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, op. 19, no. 1, published analyses of its unique rhythmic unfolding, and new micro-temporal measurements of Gould’s September 1965 recording of the work. Quantifying Sanden’s concept of “corporeal liveness,” spectrographic tools are used to generate a proper census of all the sounds captured by the microphone in order to map their rhythmic interaction. A notable “creak gap” in Gould’s recording is linked to published observations regarding the work’s process of emerging metric clarity, and one of Gould’s vocal elaborations is recognized for its augmentation of Schoenberg’s pitch material. Overlaying analytical literature with microtiming data reveals a correlation between the composition’s trajectory of metric clarification and the decrease in Gould’s physical motion. The findings are used to question the pervasive and disturbing suppression of non-notated sounds that accompany the recording of notated music. Recognizing sounds that are normally marginalized, this study fuses theoretical observations about Schoenberg’s composition with the audio artifacts of Gould’s corporeality.

Details

Title
Gould’s Creaking Chair, Schoenberg’s Metric Clarity
Author
Beaudoin, Richard
Section
Articles
Publication year
2021
Publication date
Mar 2021
Publisher
Society for Music Theory
e-ISSN
10673040
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2555633330
Copyright
© Mar 2021. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the associated terms available at http://www.mtosmt.org/about.html