Vocalist.org archive


From:  Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Date:  Fri Nov 8, 2002  1:01 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] open score/closed score

I'm committing the horrific sin of quoting this entire
message because I wholeheartedly agree with every
word. I wish this letter were part of the standard
conservatory education.

Isabelle B.

--- "Lloyd W. Hanson" <lloyd.hanson@n...> wrote:
> Dear Naomi, Mike and Vocalisters:
>
> This discussion has taken on a life of its own. I
> enjoy that. But I
> must say that my quoting Bernstein in his definition
> of differences
> between classical music and popular music was take
> from one of his
> children's concerts with the NY Phil. For that
> reason it is simple,
> not a bit overstated (it was Bernstein, remember)
> and valuable only
> in the sense that one considers it in the broadest
> perspective.
>
> Without a doubt there is a continuum of expressive
> requirements for
> performers from the most most loosely knit assembly
> of musical sounds
> to the most exacting pointillistic expression of
> minimalistic works.
> Near one end of this continuum would be the
> expressive freedom of the
> blues and near the other end the music of Mozart,
> for example.
> Somewhere about the middle of this line one would
> began to consider
> the music "classical" in the broadest meaning of
> that term.
> "Classical" in this sense would encompass both of
> its recurring
> extremes, Romanticism and Classicism. One could as
> easily say the
> music is becoming more exact and is to be recreated
> with proper
> attention to not only the written score but also the
> stylistic
> "score."
>
> Performers of this music must not only be aware of
> the particulars of
> the score they are preparing but also of how this
> score relates, at
> least stylistically, to other works that are within
> the gamut of such
> "Classical" works. Mozart style is different from
> Bach style, etc.
> Of course, this brings up the never ending question
> of how do we know
> exactly what Mozart style or Bach style is or should
> be. We now
> enter the rather new musicological field of
> "performance practices"
>
> Performance practice concerns require that the
> artist give due
> consideration to the "how" of performing. Do I add
> ornaments in da
> capo arias of Bach the same way I would in da capo
> arias of Mozart?
> Or, are there differences between the ornaments of
> Bach as compared
> with those of his contemporary, Handel?
>
> But for all of these concerns there is still a
> reality that the
> performer is primarily a re-creator. Opera arias
> were most often
> written not only for a particular voice type but for
> a particular
> person who was already selected to sing the role.
> When performed by
> another singer of even the same voice type,
> adjustments are often
> made, and correctly so, but they are made within the
> evident intent
> and style of the score. This is a performance
> adjustment that is
> seldom required of an instrumentalist because the
> potential of any
> given instrument is so similar from one make to
> another. By
> comparison, the voice presents more extremes of
> difference and
> potential between voices, even of the same vocal
> type. These are
> accommodations to allow the performance.
>
> Within the continuum there is also a change in the
> opportunities for
> the performers own personality to become a part of
> the re-creation.
> The opportunities available for a concert violinist
> to impress his
> listeners with his personality or lack of
> personality is markedly
> different when compared to the violinist in the
> country group, Dixie
> Chicks.
>
> Singers, by the nature of their body being their
> instrument, will
> always have more opportunity to "present" themselves
> as a
> personality. Consequently they must become aware of
> how much of
> themselves is to be expressed and how much the music
> should
> subordinate their personality expression. The ideal
> is that
> personality is expressed through the music when one
> is performing
> music on the classical end of the continuum. When a
> performer of
> classical music imposes his/her own personality on
> the music to the
> extent that the musical content is obscured, the
> performer is guilty
> of the sin of "mannerism". When Elizabeth
> Swartzkopf and Dietrich
> Fischer-Dieskau (as found in his later recordings)
> overly stylize
> their performances they are displaying a manneristic
> approach that
> makes us more aware of them as performers than we
> are the music of
> Schubert. This is not the basic intent of classical
> music.
>
> A comparison between Jazz and those areas of
> Classical music that
> specifically call for musical content from the
> performer is logical.
> But there is a very substantial difference between
> what is requested
> from the classical performer and what is requested
> from the Jazz
> performer. The degree of freedom left to the
> classical performer is
> more limited both in matters of melodic content and
> rhythmic
> alterations if the performer is to remain in the
> Baroque or Classical
> style. The Jazz performer is, in reality, only
> limited by the
> chordal structure of music and even this building
> block may be
> assaulted if the chordal structure itself is not
> destroyed.
>
> I express a concern here that many young performers
> seem unaware of
> stylistic and score demands placed upon them by the
> music they choose
> to deliver. We may disagree with our likes and
> dislikes about
> performers but there are standards of performance
> that should be
> recognized if the music is to retain its integrity.
> The standards
> of performance are not hard and fast nor are they
> always blatantly
> obvious but one should know when the line has been
> crossed and the
> music basically destroyed.
>
>
>
> --
> Lloyd W. Hanson
>
>
> removed]


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