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That would be a tough audio editing job as for much of it, Gould is out there humming and singing simultaneous to his playing. I've done studio sound editing for commercials and film and since, as Alfred Hitchcock said, "actors are cows" and seldom get their lines right, I sometimes had to piece together words from syllables from other words to make their lines right. Such can be done. But removing a poor-sounding piano and replacing it with a clean one would be difficult, given Gould's vocalizations. Not impossible, even to do that well, but difficult and time-consuming. I can't see anyone going to that effort for that YouTube video. Beyond that, the audio of the voices is quite good for old video.

I did consider last night that perhaps the piano was actually silenced and overdubbed later, to get around the difficulties of getting good piano sound production, say if the room for the interview was poor accoustically. But I quite doubt that, too. On the other hand, Gould spent the later years of his life almost entirely in the studio and many of his later recordings were edited from multiple takes with dubbed inserts. So he might be the one artist who WOULD go the route of silent piano with overdubbing. Gould spoke at some length on film once about his choice to filter his work through that process, saying essentially that for the sake of perfection, in the final vinyl, he used all the tools at his disposal. Apparently he was very adept with the electronics in the studio. I found that aspect of his musicianship fascinating, though I’m surprised purists didn’t raise heck.

Autoreplace at PW yields "heck". Who knew? Filtered by PW, where I'm headed sounds a little less bad.

Ok so editing may not be what the secret is.
The piano is a Steinway, so what's the big insider news.

I don't believe this interview contains overdubbed piano sound for 2 reasons

1. Gould may have been an expert on overdubbing and manipulating audio, but overdubbing a video over audio is MUCH more difficult. Under scrutinization you can notice the smallest time difference between a key press and the actual sound. Re-timing a video is a big job, and even more so in the 60's without digital stuff. Most feasible would be if Gould would hear the playback of his own recording and then try to synchronise on the spot with it. Even then this is still hard, probably even impossible to get perfect. Now youtube is known for its asynchronous playback so most people probably don't even look at that anymore with youtube, but if this is really overdub, small audio/video inconsistencies should still be noticeable if looked for.

2. In this video he is "only" giving an interview, right? Would Gould really be bothered by the audio quality of a few snippets that he plays during an interview?

i too do not believe that overdubbing is the 'secret', since the quality of the recording is what one might expect for an interview with a mic aimed in the piano's direction.

norbert's original question is "which piano was used in this recording" and it's clearly the steinway lyre on the fallboard, and it's not CD318. this interview is from march 1966, and gould had CD318 thru the 70s.

so it's my guess that it was any old steinway brought into the BBC studio for the interview.

maybe norbert is going to wait until December 21, 2012 to enlighten us.

I think I figured out the surprise!!!!
I think Norbert was waiting for the public announcement at NAMM in January but I can't keep a secret!!!!

The Steinway that was used in this interview was purchased from the BBC from the former Bosendorfer executives that designed the Brodmann that seems to be a copy of a Steinway model "A"
They have purchased this "D" to be cloned for their new concert grand being unveiled at NAMM next year.

Oh gotta go Santa's at my door. We need to load a few more Walters on his sled.

if true, then that's kinda funny, since a) it is pretty much 'any old steinway' that gould happened to play and b) if a particular piano could be cloned - which it can't - why pick that one?

guess it will make a good showroom floor story for the naive buyer.

Rod,

I'm assuming that it must be a world-class instrument if they want to clone it.

Are you sure that they are using a world-class concert grand just for an interview? Sounds pretty odd to me?

And then, even if it were a 1970's world class instrument probably is not so world class anymore 40 years later?

Where did you get this information? Or are you just guessing parts?

Naw, the surprise is that Norbert sold Gould the piano in question!

Could you have him drop one off at my place? They are as scarce as hen's teeth around here.

First of all no offense to anyone - apologies if anybody here should feel "disappointed"

What happened is exactly what I had expected to happen.

On tape speaks and plays one of world's greatest pianists, a rare, soul-stirring recording involving Canadian great Glenn Gould. Millions of people would have watched this glued to their seats witnessing an incredible documentary.

Generations after generations, this man will be remembered for his genius, especially his interpretations of Bach.

His music was unique - so was his personality - definitely one of a kind.

Yet amidst such drama, we seem focused on the "piano" - a simple "tool" of totally secondary importance.

Gould would have been Gould no matter "what" piano he would have used. A master standing way above his toolbox.



Unfortunately,true.

It wasn't a particular paint brush or the canvass that made Picasso famous but his art.

Just a little thought around Christmas how it all started and what it's all about. A little perspective amidst all the trench warfare and stuff going on here somtimes...

No offense to anybody identifying with any one particular brand of paint brush or canvass.

It's all good.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL"

Norbert

Not really... But it was you asking "which piano" and "expect surprise [about the piano I assume]" right ? So are you really surprised we discuss about the piano?

>Gould would have been Gould no matter "what" piano he would have used. A master standing way above his toolbox.

Really? I thought Gould was kind of glued to his Steinway CD318 when it came to recording?

so norbert, since i came up with the correct answer, will you be sending me a new estonia? you did say "expect a prize"

Bah !! Humbug !!

Norbert will be so disappointed with that lump of coal in his stocking in the morning.

(But this is actually as expected. I'm fresh out of benefits of doubt.)