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Re: Toffe Sundqvist's Supercharged Mozart

Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2020-08-08 17:24

I think it's worthwhile pointing out that Robert's three choices don't properly capture what is available to a player.

You need to see that the use of 'classical' phrasing, very roughly, translates to 'avoiding the local crescendo within the phrase' – but you can do that by keeping the phrase-shape flat, then giving the illusion of a crescendo by starting the next phrase slightly louder.

What that means is that there is a continuum between 'strongly classically-phrased' playing and 'more sostenuto-like' playing. A player can move from one to the other in the service of the current musical character. They should be doing that anyway, just as they should be modulating the degree to which they show bar-hierarchy.

It's one reason why mastery of classical phrasing is such a powerful tool, and why Sundqvist's performance is effectively monochromatic despite its highly varied palette. I'm not inclined to take him seriously as a Mozart player.

I once had a (rare) student in Spain who understood all of this, and he told me that when coached by another 'master' who kept on insisting on crescendos, he was very often able to give the apparently satisfactory illusion of a crescendo without actually doing one.

This amused him (and me).

MOST people aren't aware of these details – even at the very high level of audition panels:-)

The upshot is that if you are playing to satisfy a 'romantically inclined' audience, you can do so within the style by flattening your phrase shapes. And, if you're playing to this standard, the panel will be interested in you anyway.

Tony

Post Edited (2020-08-08 18:11)

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