Klarinet Archive - Posting 000394.txt from 1996/04

From: Bruce Currie <BCurrie101@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Dan and his Michelangelo -- me and my handcuffs
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 19:21:41 -0400

All this discussion about performance practice reminds me of what I
remember was said of Wynton Marsalis. He is both a superb classical
trumpet player and an excellent jazzer. But his preference is jazz,
much to the consternation of "serious" performers. His reason was
that classical music is too restrictive, with the critics expecting
the same "correct" model performance time after time. In jazz he
has freedom of expression, which he treasures, and that makes the
performance more exciting. Any response?

>Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 23:48:47 -0400
>From: Nate Burk <nathan@-----.COM>
>Sender: "Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network"
<KLARINET@-----.BITNET>
>To: Multiple recipients of list KLARINET
<KLARINET@-----.BITNET>
>Subject: Dan and his Michelangelo -- me and my handcuffs
>
>Dan made an interesting comparison of representing music
authentically to
>representing artwork authentically:
>
>>But when you get it, it is just not right. For one thing, it is
>>nude and you don't want to offend anyone. So you have a pair of
>>shorts made from denim and, with a lot of work, get them sewn
>>right on David. A scotch plaid tie is added next because it is
>>very saucy. And stuck in David's hand (the one holding the
sling)
>>is an umbrella in your favorite color: puce.
>
>Yeah, this anology fits, but let me play devil's advocate. When
> Michelangelo
>sculpted the statue, he never intended for people to replicate it.
I think
>he'd be pretty pissed to see anything like this ever happen to his
work.
>Composers, on the other hand, should *expect* people to interpret
their
> work
>differently. Thus, while it would be inappropriate to alter a
great
> painting
>or sculpture, it's not as out-of-the-question to manipulate music
to suit
>one's own feelings.
>
>I still don't think there's one right way to play anything and I'll never
>look down on anyone for playing something differently than the norm... like
>I said before, I'll just flip the channel or stop the tape. The handcuffs
>come into play when someone tells me that Mozart doesn't want me to ritard
>at the end of a certain phrase or Weber never intended me to play a pair of
>grace notes at the end of a turn. Few editions of any piece are very true
> to
>the original autograph (correct word?), so what's the point in trying to
>adhere to them to the letter? If we can't add our own imagination to the
>music that we play, why do we bother playing it?
>
>I don't know, guys, I guess I don't take authenticity as serious as you do
>(or maybe I take it too seriously, who knows). I'll try my best to learn
>about a particular composer's style and about the period from which the
>music comes, but if something pisses me off in the music, I'm sure going to
>change it. I think of myself as more of an artist than an ambassador when I
>play music; while it's important to preserve authenticity, I think we'd be
>bored to tears if we all heard the same interpretations over and over
> again.
>Maybe I've missed the point here, but I don't like the idea of being
>"responsible" for the work of these great composers.
>
> For the majority of you who wish to play the music as authentically as
>humanly possible, bravo -- I applaud that effort because I simply don't
> have
>the patience to sit myself down in a library and study Brahms' early
>childhood to analyze why he might have called for a decrescendo in measure
>132. :)
>
>But when I play at a recital, I like to think people want to hear *me*
>playing a composer's work... they don't want to hear me play how my teacher
>plays it or how Wright, Marcellus, or Neidich would have played it... they
>want to hear me. Maybe it's selfish to make that assumption, but if they
>don't like what I have to offer, then they don't have to come to my next
>recital, do they? :)
>
>--Nate
>
>(Btw, sorry for the underlying sarcasm in this note -- please take my word
>that I didn't mean in it in a condescending way!!!!)
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>"Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life."
>nathan@-----.com/~nathan
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
********************************
Bruce Currie
Lombard, Illinois
BCurrie101@-----.com
********************************