Klarinet Archive - Posting 000251.txt from 1998/07

From: "Mary Sotnik" <marys@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Cultural Relativism (was Mozart and the V word)
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 00:35:53 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Date: 10 July 1998 18:06
Subject: Re: [kl] Cultural Relativism (was Mozart and the V word)

>On Tue, 7 Jul 1998, Sherry Katz wrote:
>
>> Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 13:35:38 -0700
>> From: Sherry Katz <slkatz@-----.com>
>> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
>> To: klarinet <klarinet@-----.org>
>> Subject: Re: [kl] Cultural Relativism (was Mozart and the V word)
>>
>>[bitz cut out]
>
>> Another factor is that when it comes to playing music, no matter how much
>> training you have, the music that comes from a particular individual is
>> always an interpretation. That interpretation comes from the sum total
of
>> what that individual is. That's why you can "copy" someone else's style
and
>> still be uniquely original. No person playing in the twentieth century -
no
>> matter how much they use authentic instruments, choose an "authentic"
hall,
>> study the performance style of Mozart, or anything else is anything other
>> than a person in the 20th century playing Mozart.
>This is worth saying, but it amounts to a tautology, nonetheless. We still
>need to find out as much as possible about "authentic" performance
>prectices.
>Roger Shilcock
>

OK, though one wouldn't necessarily want to be as authentic as possible,
I think.

Where would you draw the line if authenticity actually put the listeners
off,
e.g. if a 1st performance (& possibly subsequent ones) had been badly
played with an unrehearsed orchestra? What about if a composer first
heard their work on (say) a fortepiano but actually preferred it on a
pianoforte -
would you go with what the composer actually got, or what he wanted (as far
as you could tell)? Or would you do whichever you liked & inform
the audience what you were doing and why? (Seems the best bet?)

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