Performance practice - As the composer intended?
July 13th 2006 08:52
In performing classical, romantic, and baroque music, scores are meticulously studied, performance practices as gleamed from historical documents are attempted to be replicated, and a vision as to what a composer truly intended in his work is tried to be grasped at, as accurately as is possible. But as original instruments sound so truly different from modern ones, it is surprising that the music of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Haydn has found itself so at home with a new set of sounds.
Beethoven, writing in the late 18th and early 19th century was not writing for the concert Steinway piano his music is so often heard on today. The piano of the late 18th century was at least 2 octaves smaller, wooden framed, and with a delicate, pure and sensitive sound. Many of Beethoven’s middle and late period piano sonatas are renowned for being a virtuosic feast for the senses, with vibrant and insanely fast runs and arpeggiated figures, and bashing, violent octaves. Yet on the instrument he wrote for, this sense of violence was not as easily achieved, since dissonances would die much faster on the softer instruments, and the lower register of the instrument was as clean as the upper register. While not producing the same strong sounds he is sometimes known for, these pianos bring to light a totally different attitude in his slow and soft movements. The lightness of a classical piano is possibly better suited to creating the magical soundscapes of Beethoven’s Adagios. A poignant case in point can be seen in the first movement of his piano sonata Op. 27 No. 2, ‘Quasi Una Fantasia’, more commonly known as the ‘Moonlight’ sonata. Played on a period instrument, its gentler quiet approach makes it easy to see how it had the name ‘Moonlight’ associated with it.
The evolution of the piano into a louder and stronger concert instrument was bound to have repercussions on other musical instruments. As the piano gained in strength, pieces written for performance on instruments with piano required instruments of extra dynamic capability to keep up. The evolution of the clarinet demonstrates this well. The modern symphonic clarinet is a chromatic instrument which has a tremendous range and a complicated system of keywork and padding to make its flexibility possible. Also, its construction from grenadilla (African blackwood) makes possible its strong and crisp projection for an instrument made out of wood. When Mozart wrote the Clarinet Concerto K.622 in 1791, he was writing it not for a clarinet at all, but a basset clarinet(or possibly basset horn) which had a range 4 semitones below the modern clarinet, and there are many passages of the concerto which are technically impossible to play on a modern instrument due to range restrictions. The material the instrument was made out of was also nowhere near as dense as grenadilla, but was a type of oiled boxwood. This gave the instrument a much more gentle sound, and in contrast to the 17 keys on typical modern instruments, the classical clarinet typically had 5 or less! Obviously, this results in some large differences between modern and classical interpretations of this piece.
The changes that have occurred have totally changed the way the music is played. Period instrumentalists in a movement predominantly from the 1960s have led an exploration of what these original sounds may have been like. Due to instrumental limitations, some of these recordings are not without their particular burrs in pitch and tone, but this can be taken as a sign of authenticity. The Orchestra of the 18th Century under the baton of Frans Brüggen has made a wide variety of recordings, from symphonies and concertos to chamber music, and would definitely be a good introduction to the field of period performance. I highly recommend if possible listening to or attending performances of works on period instruments where they occur, the results can be sometimes less elegant, but are always eye opening and fascinating events.
An early 19th century piano, taken from the Period Piano Company website.
The evolution of the piano into a louder and stronger concert instrument was bound to have repercussions on other musical instruments. As the piano gained in strength, pieces written for performance on instruments with piano required instruments of extra dynamic capability to keep up. The evolution of the clarinet demonstrates this well. The modern symphonic clarinet is a chromatic instrument which has a tremendous range and a complicated system of keywork and padding to make its flexibility possible. Also, its construction from grenadilla (African blackwood) makes possible its strong and crisp projection for an instrument made out of wood. When Mozart wrote the Clarinet Concerto K.622 in 1791, he was writing it not for a clarinet at all, but a basset clarinet(or possibly basset horn) which had a range 4 semitones below the modern clarinet, and there are many passages of the concerto which are technically impossible to play on a modern instrument due to range restrictions. The material the instrument was made out of was also nowhere near as dense as grenadilla, but was a type of oiled boxwood. This gave the instrument a much more gentle sound, and in contrast to the 17 keys on typical modern instruments, the classical clarinet typically had 5 or less! Obviously, this results in some large differences between modern and classical interpretations of this piece.
The changes that have occurred have totally changed the way the music is played. Period instrumentalists in a movement predominantly from the 1960s have led an exploration of what these original sounds may have been like. Due to instrumental limitations, some of these recordings are not without their particular burrs in pitch and tone, but this can be taken as a sign of authenticity. The Orchestra of the 18th Century under the baton of Frans Brüggen has made a wide variety of recordings, from symphonies and concertos to chamber music, and would definitely be a good introduction to the field of period performance. I highly recommend if possible listening to or attending performances of works on period instruments where they occur, the results can be sometimes less elegant, but are always eye opening and fascinating events.
| 105 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by DanielR
their recording of Weber's Clarinet Concertos is great, though Antony Pay as the Clarinet soloist is a little too flustered and hurried in the nifty passages for my liking. the ensemble work is beautifully judged though, certainly a more penetrating overall timbre.
Comment by Peter
For Weber, while perhaps not the most well known, I prefer the work done by Charles Neidich. His habit of embellishing in his own way and making his own cadenzas I feel really embodies the spirit of the display concertos that he's playing. The recording with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is well worth checking out.
Comment by DanielR
and i heard a little bit of hoeprich doing the brahms quintet, he certainly knows his way round the repertoire. something about how you can sort of HEAR his intuition. great performer. i shall look out for his mozart concerto.
Comment by Peter
Thanks for the kind words. I checked out Pop Musicology too, I think I'll be checking in on that when it's updated. I hope you enjoy future articles
Comment by DanielR
Comment by Anonymous
I love your blog.. it's really different and original! And very useful for music trivia and information. Hope to hear from you more often. Good luck with the practise and the music studies!
Bec
Comment by Peter
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Peter
Comment by Anonymous
Mozart wrote the concerto for the basset clarinet (with its extra range), an instrument that shortly after fell out of circulation - until the 1950s, when it was 'resurrected' as it were. Meanwhile, the concerto had been published in a modified version for a regular clarinet in A.
So what you have is the 'original' version of the concerto (actually a reconstruction) that delves into the low notes of the extra range and can be played equally well on both PERIOD basset clarinets and MODERN basset clarinets (as in the case of, say, Sabine Meyer and other modern players).
Then, you have the version that was published in the early 19th century, which is for a regular clarinet in A and represents a compromise regardless of whether one plays it on a modern or a period instrument of that type.