Recapturing the Interpretive Art of Performance

At The Juilliard School, the great teacher Adele Marcus often quoted from the Talmud: 'In order to understand the invisible, one must carefully study the visible'; 'Don't just SEE it, but LOOK at it'; 'Don't just HEAR it, but LISTEN to it'. She never liked 'sterile' performances, but fresh and exciting, moving interpretations, yet adhering to the composer's intentions. Sound was a big thing with Marcus--those who studied with her know what that is all about. We were never allowed to 'distort' for personal favor, but when the modd strikes to electrify an audience with a fiery motion, or the softest PPP to move you to tears, or breathe within a phrase because it makes sense to do so and fits within the stylistic parameter, then go for it. There's just the right balance to make something sound 'good', 'acceptable', but when you go over the edge, it loses conviction and just doesn't sound 'quite right'. In my own new recordings of thew complete Mozart sonatas (the first 3 cds arrive this summer on the Koch label), I decided to do Mozartean embellishments in the repeat sections of all the sonatas. Why? Why not. Did Mozart play everything the same twice--no way. This is the kind of interpretative effect I believe is what Mr. Hamilton refers. Again, a happy medium makes a happy listener.

I've heard about the book and am curious to read it, and no doubt it's very interesting.
Yet the enormously gifted Lang Lang still gets lambasted regularly for taking too many liberties with the music he plays by so many critics, as well as many other contemporary pianists, conductors and other instrumentalists.
I repeat, if musicians today are so pedantically literal, dry and unimaginative interpreters,why are there so many reviews which lambaste them for all the liberties they take with the music?
And the fact remains that sometimes musicians DO distort the music and take unwarranted liberties with the music which have angered and exasperated some composers. There are many recorded examples of this going back centuries.
I think that the best performances are those which find a happy medium between pedantic literalism and wilful distortion of the music.

It's interesting, of course, that Hamilton makes his case for a more improvisational approach to performance (which he can also demonstrate at the piano very impressively, if you ever get the chance to hear him) through the discourse of scholarly research into performance practice that also gave us the 'purity' approach to performance!

liz

The importance of the way a piece is performed can not be taken lightly.It can make or break what the composer intended.For well known classics it is important,for new pieces it is vital. A standard manuscript although well written can not convey every subtlety. As with any business,including orchestras, time is money and learning a new piece takes time and much money.There are now alternatives to composers who wish to put in the extra time,effort and investment.It is now possible to compose and produce your own music.I'm not talking about the usual home computer with some music sofware.I'm talking about investing anyware between 30 and 50 thousand dollars. However with the advent of the latest technology I can now compose and produce a symphony,violin or piano concerto or any other combination of instuments ,including choir, and get results that are not close to, as was once the case, but comparable or superior to a major modern orchestra or soloist.(Audio-file quality to boot)I have complete control of the orchestra and soloists and their enviorment ect.I can make instant changes to the score while composing and hear the results.I have been doing this for many years, however the latest technology along with high speed,large memory computers are now finally up to the task. Many of the composers we know and love never heard a compitant orchestra play their major works, if they infact heard them at all, including Schubert. Myself and other composers no longer have to face this problem. Composers do not have to be at the mercy of the music cliques to hear their pieces if they are willing to make the investments.People who have heard and enjoy my music can in many cases not fathom how it was recorded .After several persons who regularly attend concerts and are regular listners to PBS heard some of my orchestral works they exclaimed, "but what orchestra did you use" even after the process was explained to them.

Harold C Schonberg talked about this quite a bit as does David Dubal.