Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2005-07-18 13:01
Actually, it would be best to give an example, to show on what quite low, but nevertheless I'd say important level I'm talking:
If you look at the first Trio of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet, the one that doesn't involve the clarinet, you see that the music consists of a collection of two-note phrases.
Now, if you're the first violin, it can seem to you that you should 'go' from the first upbeat note to the second: 'tee-yah' -- because that's a quite natural musical response, and it's what the harmony could be thought to do. And the other players might have analogous reactions, according to where in the bar their phrase lies.
But, the harmony, and the music, does that anyway. It doesn't need the players to underline it. In fact, if the first violin avoids underlining it, phrasing instead in a beginning-oriented way, the 'cello emerges from the texture -- and then the other instruments in turn.
What that means is that the surface of the music has a continuity, even though the individual parts may not seem to, to the players.
That's a simple viewpoint, and you can see that it can be subverted by other considerations -- like, that the first violin has an appoggiatura in the second phrase. But it's a viewpoint that many players don't even consider, and that makes a big overall difference to performances of this music.
What I'm talking about is what is 'normal' in the style.
Tony
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