2009 Articles

Hearing Glenn Gould's Body: Corporeal Liveness in Recorded Music

Sanden, Paul

Relationships between liveness and mediatization must be reconsidered so that, where appropriate, mediatization may be construed as a productive way to project new and necessary understandings of musical meaning. A static livelrecorded binarism, in light of such arguments, no longer seems appropriate. By hearing Glenn Gould's body in his recordings, we hear his liveness. Not only can we then rethink our common conceptions of Gould's musicianship, but also our common conceptions of recorded music. An awareness of liveness reminds us of the sociality of music by emphasizing its performance, even when conventional indicators of performance become reconfigured by the very acts of mediatization I emphasize here. In an era of potentially de-socializing technological practices (internet shopping, automated bank tellers, anonymous on-line communications, etc.), such a reminder seems increasingly important. Sanden shares his music experience while offering thoughts on liveness, mediatization, Gould, and more.