Klarinet Archive - Posting 000648.txt from 2000/09

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: RE: [kl] Espressivo, Brahms Sonata #2
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 16:31:21 -0400

On Thu, 21 Sep 2000 11:24:02 -0500, el2@-----.edu said:

> I am forced to conclude that you are obsessing far too much about the
> word "espressivo." It means just what it says, play expressively. In
> answer to your original question, is it ever appropriate to play
> inexpressively, my answer is yes. For one example, if you are playing
> background parts in an ensemble, such as arpeggiated chords or other
> "noodling," trying to play super expressively can be distracting to
> other players. I remember well a flute player playing the second
> flute part in Ravel's Bolero, who tried to use vibrato on every note
> of the part, which is essentially the same as the snare drum part.
> The result was about the most comical effect you can imagine.

Yes, this is true. And in fact, Bill understood as much a few posts
back, when he wrote:

> I received an email about "espressivo" that makes sense to me. The
> comment was that I was thinking from a soloist's point of view. Of
> course a soloist wants to be expressive; but if you're playing in an
> ensemble or orchestra, it may be your turn to just play the arpeggios
> and let some other instrument be espressivo. Hence the other person's
> music says "espressivo" and yours doesn't. I can buy into that.

You then go on to write:

> But, it is not really the instructions in the score, but rather the
> internal musical content that tells us when to play expressively, how
> expressively to play, and how to accomplish that. Determining those
> things is subjective, and accounts for the fact that performers have
> individual styles.

Absolutely.

But, the question then is, can we further unpack or categorise this
'internal musical content' in any way that is useful?

And my answer is, yes, we can.

If we stay with just the one continuum:

Inexpressive...More expressive...Super expressive

(to use your terminology), then although it's a beginning, I'd say we
limit our understanding of what the music does, and our ability to
respond to it.

That's why I talked about the notion of different 'registers'.

Because it's possible to have a continuum of increasing intensity in the
'personal' register, and a continuum of increasing intensity in the
'descriptive' register, and for these to be different.

At the top end of both scales, it's difficult to perceive or communicate
the distinction between these two, but in the lower ranges it can be
very useful.

(I know it sounds surprising that this is possible; but we're very
subtle listeners for this sort of distinction. We detect very delicate
nuances in how actors, or real people, behave in even very everyday
circumstances. Think how easily we pick up that someone's unhappy
when they come into a room. Or that they're behaving normally, and
just saying stuff.)

Another connected distinction that you mention is that of different
'styles'.

A *style* is something that establishes both what we do when we're
communicating 'nothing' emotionally, and also establishes how we change
what we do in order to communicate a 'something'.

So, in a style that includes little vibrato (say), a note with vibrato
may communicate an emotional intensity.

But in a style that includes vibrato as a matter of course, a 'cold'
note may be very meaningful. And in the performance of an ensemble
piece, it's important that the players concur on the details of how that
should contribute to the overall interpretation.

That's a simple example. But in the case of Brahms, it's not a trivial
task to determine the sort of style that makes his music work, and
people differ very greatly in their answers.

My own view is that most performances of Brahms err well on the side of
romanticism, turning what is a very classically rooted music into a
concentration on surface sound appeal that tends to obscure important
internal details.

Looked at from this point of view, Brahms's instruction 'espressivo' is
an invitation (for a moment) to ignore his classical, structural
qualities and go for local gesture.

If we want to discuss what might be a 'Brahms' style, and what might be
a 'romantic' departure from that style, then we'd need to look closely
at a particular piece; and, as I indicated to Bill, not necessarily the
one I happened to mention.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

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