{"id":1359,"date":"2010-01-29T15:54:22","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T14:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=1359"},"modified":"2010-01-29T15:54:22","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T14:54:22","slug":"performers-perspective-lets-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2010\/01\/29\/performers-perspective-lets-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"Performer’s Perspective- Let’s Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mahler<\/a><\/p>\n

Tomorrow I am conducting a Viennafest concert with the Surrey Mozart Players. It\u2019s been several years since I did a proper Viennafest show- the last time was in 2005. I programmed that event partly as a warm up for our first Mahler symphony (the 2nd<\/sup>) which we did at the end of that season with my former orchestra, the Oregon East Symphony.<\/p>\n

It was interesting that almost nobody in the orchestra or the audience twigged to my hidden purpose- of course, these concerts can and should always be wonderful musical occasions in their own right, but I also think that understanding the language of Viennese music- not just the Strauss family, but Supp\u00e9, Niccolai and Kalman, is essential for understanding the performing language of Mahler.<\/p>\n

For all that Mahler was incredibly precise in his notation, we know from the surviving piano rolls of his playing that his approach to rhythm was far from literal. In the piano roll of the 1st<\/sup> Mvt. of his 5th<\/sup> symphony he seems to play the dotted rhythms differently every time. I mentioned the other day how he asks for some rhythms, like the waltz rhythm in the 3rd<\/sup> mvt the same work, to be stylized, but I\u2019m sure there are many other places in his music where a really stylistically sensitive performance would go far beyond a mathematical rendering of the rhythms on the page.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The surviving traditions of Viennese light classical music, as embodied in the Vienna Philharmonic, are essential for musicians to study and absorb- not so that we can turn Mahler symphonies into schmaltz fests, but so that we are speaking his language in his dialect, with his accent, and not ours.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This all sounds so simple and obvious as I write it that I almost wonder why I am bothering, but then I remember that I was 27 or 28 before I first played in a good performance of a Strauss waltz- The Emperor, which I\u2019m conducting tomorrow. It was quite a revelation- it is such glorious, moving, enriching and rejuvenating music, musically and emotionally sophisticated and full of the mixing of happy and sad that is so common in the best Viennese music, and in Mahler. By that point, I\u2019d already played a ton of Mahler and conducted a few things, and had played the Richard Strauss tone poems, Brahms symphonies, five of \u00a0Bruckner symphonies and any number of other works that would have benefited by understanding better the musical culture that they were all steeped in there in Vienna. How many players do Rosenkavalier without knowing much of the art of playing the other Strausses well? Even Brahms got into the waltz act with the Liebeslieder Waltzes. They\u2019re wonderful, but not as good as the best Strauss waltzes (Brahms all but admitted as much when he said his only complaint about the Blue Danube is that it didn\u2019t have his name on the title page)\u2026. We\u2019re doing several of his Hungarian Dances, which are superb, wonderful pieces- miraculous miniature tone poems. My only regret is that I\u2019m doing too many of the famous ones and not enough of the lesser known gems.<\/p>\n

Of course, it is wrong to treat this music simply as a primer for Mahler- it is magnificent on its own merits, and so hard to pull off. If nothing else, struggling to play Strauss Jr well makes us realize how much easier it is to play music where we read rhythms literally. No so in Strauss- it\u2019s not just a question of playing something not on the page, but of playing something that would be impossible to put on the page.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Again and again, one says \u201cplay the quaver a little later and faster, more like a semi quaver,\u201d and it gets repeated in the orchestra as \u201cplay a semiquaver,\u201d which doesn\u2019t work at all. One says \u201ccompress the first two beats of the bar\u201d and one gets the 2nd<\/sup> beat on the and of 1. If could be notated that way, it would have been- in those rare years when one can hear the VPO play Strauss under a real master, it is awe inspiring to really listen and try to understand how things are happening when they do. I\u2019m not sure any other group under any conductor could speak that language with that kind of fluency.<\/p>\n

Of course, the wrong conductor can make even the VPO dance in lead boots. I watch the New Year\u2019s concert on TV every year in much the same spirit I watch my favourite sports teams in the playoffs- most years, you want to hope for something good to happen, but deep down you know you are bound to be disappointed. Other years, you know better than to hope and can only try to enjoy your outraged ranting. Some years, you think you might have a chance, which makes the inevitable loss all the more painful. Then some years, the team clicks magically- Carlos Kleiber\u2019s concerts in 89 and 92 were like that. They were the 72 Dolphins and the 85 Bears of Viennese music.<\/p>\n

Happily, in 2008 and 2010, there have been more cheers than groans at my house on New Year\u2019s morning, and not just because having kids has limited my champagne intake the night before. It\u2019s truly thrilling to see Georges Pretre leading the orchestra to historic form at the age of 85. If you heard my interview with Gianandrea Noseda last week, you\u2019ll know that he got his Mahlerian start as Pretre\u2019s assistant- see it all connects. I\u2019d love to hear Pretre do Mahler- I\u2019ll have to go hunting. Meanwhile, I\u2019m hoping he\u2019d do the 2012 show.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots more I could say about programming and conducting a good Viennafest- try to work closely with your orchestra librarian as some of the pieces are still only available in dodgy editions where a lot of corrections are needed and some pieces you have choices of editions that can make a big difference to everyone\u2019s sanity. It is worth the extra money to get good materials! Don\u2019t do waltzes back to back- it kills the 2nd<\/sup> violins and violas. Don\u2019t get too fancy- always end with Danube and Radetzky. Have a theme (I\u2019m doing Hungary and Gypsies this year). Don\u2019t make the audience sit though anything that isn\u2019t fun. Take it seriously as great music. Don\u2019t make the home audience sit the embarrassingly hokey dance numbers and horse marching film sequences.<\/p>\n

Our programme is<\/p>\n

Strauss Jr- Overture to \u201cDie Zigeunerbaron\u201d<\/p>\n

Strauss Jr- Eljen a Magyar, Polka Schnell<\/p>\n

Sarasate- Zigeunerweisen<\/p>\n

Victoria Sayles, violin<\/p>\n

Brahms- Hungarian Dances (selected)<\/p>\n

Strauss- Slovianka Quadrille<\/p>\n

Intermission<\/p>\n

Niccolai- Overture to \u201cMerry Wives of Windsor\u201d<\/p>\n

Strauss- Artist\u2019s Life Waltz<\/p>\n

Strauss- Tritsch-Tratsch Polka<\/p>\n

Beethoven- Romance in G for Violin and Orchestra<\/p>\n

Victoria Sayles, violin<\/p>\n

Strauss- Thunder and Lightening Polka<\/p>\n

Strauss- Emperor Waltz<\/p>\n

Supp\u00e9- Poet and Peasant Overture<\/p>\n

Strauss- Blue Danube Waltz<\/p>\n

Strauss Sr.- Radetzky March<\/p>\n