Klarinet Archive - Posting 000074.txt from 1998/07

From: Michael Kolos <makolos@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and the V word
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 08:52:06 -0400

Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:

> There is a great deal wrong with playing a piece in a manner
> inconsistent with the way it was performed at the original concerts.
> In fact, if you execute in this fashion, you do not understand what you
> are doing.
>

I heartily disagree with you here. You are stating that there is one, and
only one correct way to perform a piece. Considering all the possibilities -
simply the fact that there are many different recordings of the same piece AND
that the public accepts and purchases them - this statement is in the realms of
saying that "we are the only intelligent beings in the universe."

> A piece of music is not a collection of notes that can be executed
> in any way that pleases the performer. A piece of music has
> historical context and cannot be divorced from that context. That
> context includes, but is not limited to, performance practices,
> interpretation of markings that are consistent with their definition
> at the time of the work's composition, and something called "style."
> To play a Mozart work in a Brahmsian style is to compliment neither
> the work nor the style. It's a gimmick, a show off element, but not
> intelligent music making.

A piece of music definately has an historical context. It was almost guaranteed
to have been developed because of the practices and conventions of the time.Here
is where I feel there is a conflict: We are no longer repeating these same
practises or conventions now, and therefore should we go back and attempt to
recreate the same performance for which the piece was originally intended, we will
fail miserably in creating the same atmosphere and understanding in the
listeners. Sure, it may sound the same, look the same, even smell the same. But
the listener won't understand it the same way, because times have changed. We now
have electricity. Enclosed concert halls with large capacities, modern
instruments, modern air conditions, different physical size, and so on. So how, I
ask, can two civilizations so different in all these aspects be expected to "hear"
the same thing when it is played?
It's all in the interpretation of the listener, and this, I say, is not
recreatable without locking the audience in a time warp for their entire lives so
that they are 18th century Viennese. (or whatever appropriate date and locataion)
Then your arguement will be valid.
Until then, we must accept that we have changed, and that to give our minds the
same sensation as was had by our ancestors, we must stimulate it in a different
manner.

> People who play a piece "in any manner that most allows you to project
> the emtotion you intend to the audience" generally have no idea what
> it is they are doing with an instrument in their hands. Their attitude
> is ego-driven and reverses the roles of composer and performer in terms
> of importance. What the performer thinks is not as important as what
> s/he knows. And the slightest knowledge of performance practice mandates
> that a performance divorced from the practices of the epoch in which
> the work was written is doomed to artistic and musical failure.

I agree here, however it is not really relevant to the topic at hand ("Should a
piece be performed only as its composer would have heard it")

> To suggest that any 18th century composer would agree with such a
> questionable thesis signs your view with someone else's name? How
> do you know what an 18th century composer would agree to? It is
> generally the case that the less one knows about performance practices,
> the less the importance given to them.

Again, completely right. We have no clue, and so statements as were made are not
useful.

I am very much into achieving correct performance practises. In fact, I will be
going into early music performance next year (on recorder). I have been less
likely to follow performance practice with the clarinet as with the recorder, for
some reason. I will try to change that. But that is not to say that I will try
to exclude modern performance techniques and styles from pieces that do not come
by them naturally. i.e. I will perform and create anachronisms - and know that I
am doing so.
Because I am a performer who is not performing for an audience who knows the 18th
century practices intimately. However, when I know such is the case (as in an
early music only concert), I will do my best to recreate the composer's original
intentions (which we know can change quite dramatically from 1st hearing onwards).

And in fact, I will even promote the early performance practises at other times.
But I will not limit myself exclusively to that one method.

Michael

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