Modern Maestro Rescues the Classics <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Conductor Kenneth Woods found his own path to the podium.<\/p>\n While many of his\u00a0podium colleagues and rivals spent their teens and twenties practicing score reading and transposition, Woods spent this formative years in the 1980\u2019s as a rock and pop guitarist, immersed in the vernacular music of his time.<\/p>\n \u201dWhen I first put down the guitar and took up the baton,\u201d says Woods, \u201cpeople saw me as a disruptive outsider who didn\u2019t understand the traditions of classical music. But a great man once said that tradition is the last bad performance. I knew, from what I\u2019d learned playing the commercial music of the 1980\u2019s, that the \u201ctradition\u201d as it existed and still exists, had to be destroyed in order for us to restore the great classical masterpieces to the kind of performances envisaged by their composers.\u201d<\/p>\n While other conductors were learning their craft from teachers and mentors corrupted by lazy mainstream practices, Woods had been reading the letters and writings of Beethoven, Wagner and Mahler, trying to better understand their goals and aspirations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s commonly taught in conservatories that the great classical innovators were all looking for something fresh- seeking The New, it was called\u201d says Woods, \u201cbut this is something of a misunderstanding. Wagner was not so much seeking the New as he was seeking The New Wave. The great composers were not these stuffy, establishment figures they\u2019ve been portrayed as- they wore wigs and frilly shirts, just like the masters of the 1980\u2019s New Wave. Once I made the connection, I understood that the great composers had been writing music for an 1980\u2019s pop aesthetic in expectation of the technical revolutions to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, it took many years for Woods to find himself in a position to tackle the big orchestral warhorses. \u201cWe had to start small- the first experiment was my recording of the Brahms cello sonatas in the early 1990\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrahms had often written about the importance of a range of color in his keyboard music. The modern piano is too monolithic and too heavy for his music, and it\u2019s very size and volume also force the cellist to play too loud much of the time. On a modern Steinway, Brahms keyboard writing comes off as over-thick and leaden, where it should be clean and transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFortunately, in this age we had at our disposal the miraculous tool of Yamaha\u2019s FM Synthesis. The DX7 was the tool Brahms always wanted and never had- those clean digital waveforms from the Rhodes patch used on so many 80\u2019s ballads combined lean-ness with unlimited digital sustain.\u201d<\/p>\n (Modern Musical Miracle Machine- the Yamaha DX7)<\/p>\n Of course, once he saw the potential of the new technology in revealing Brahms\u2019 true intentions, Woods couldn\u2019t stop with the keyboard. \u201cthe cello is too old-fashioned for Brahms concept of New Wave music. The intonation doesn\u2019t match with the keyboard, and you can\u2019t add any digital delay or chorus effect to an acoustic cello. I tried an electric cello, but the bow changes get in the way of the music. Eventually, I realized I could use a Synthaxe. That allowed me to combine wave forms from several synthesizers, just as Brahms would have wanted, while using a sustain pedal to achieve infinite phrase lengths without the unmusical interruptions of breathing or bow changes. Then, running the output through twinned Peavey amplifiers, I could sweeten the sound with a bit of chorus and increase the snap on the front end with a little digital delay. We also performed with a lot of hairspray and make up, wearing historically appropriate shoulder pads.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the years, he found kindred spirits, eventually convincing his string quartet to set aside their antiquated Italian violins and violas in favor of \u201cOriginally Intended Instruments,\u201d a matching set of Synthaxes in pastel colors.<\/p>\n (The Synthaxes used by Woods’ quartet for their recordings of Beethovens op 127, 130, 131, 132 and 135 String Quartets. Woods used the teal one for the big cello solo in the “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit in der Lydischen Tonart)<\/p>\n Once on the podium, Woods quickly began to reveal the New Wave aspirations of Beethoven. \u201cBeethoven was the original New Wave composer- just look at his hair and his penchant for innovation. He always had to have the latest pianos, including the magnificent Broadwood he bought after he\u2019d gone deaf. He was never satisfied with the clumsy mechanical sound production systems of the instruments of his day, and his piano sonatas sound much more as he intended them to on a modern synthesizer.\u201d<\/p>\n In working with orchestras, Woods began with the instruments that most affect the sound of the overall ensemble- the kettledrums. \u201cModern timpani are too flabby, too soft edged. It\u2019s not what Beethoven had in mind at all- he wanted articulation, clarity and a more reliable tuning system. Early on, we replaced mechanical timpani with Originally Intended Instruments- Roland drum triggers. My time in the studio in the 80\u2019s had given me a chance to really understand the makings of the Phil Collins drum sound, which was so popular for good reason. By combining triggered timpani samples with a mixture of digital delay, digital reverb and a subtle chorus effect, then pulling out all the mid-range in the\u00a0EQ stage,\u00a0we could unleash the perfect authentic timpani sound, with 100% accurate pitch control, and we could even use the synthesizer to control the exact amount of decay as well as how much stick noise you want. With the trigger pads, you no longer have to switch sticks to get a different sound, you can just change patches. You can even adjust dynamics with a foot pedal so you don’t have to worry about how hard you hit them\u201d<\/p>\n From there, it was on to the trumpets, where Woods felt modern era instruments were also doing a tremendous amount of damage. \u201cThe modern trumpet is a legato instrument, with a rounded sound and a rather smooth articulation- Beethoven wanted the trumpet to reinforce the rhythmic contour of the music. If you try to play a modern trumpet with enough edge and bite to satisfy the needs of the score, it is too loud for the strings.\u201d<\/p>\n The solution was obvious \u201c80\u2019s pop music had demonstrated with amazing effect that\u00a0 could replace a clumsy and expensive horn section, who soak up much too much of your gig fees anyway and crowd the bus, with a keyboard. The DX7 had lots of good trumpet patches, and when you play Beethoven\u2019s trumpet parts on a modern, digital, touch sensitive keyboard, you have no possibility of missed notes or tuning problems, and the articulations always match perfectly. For the first time, we were able to use modern technology to show listeners what Beethoven really originally intended.\u201d<\/p>\n Woods\u2019 Beethoven quickly gained notoriety bordering on infamy. \u201cComplete bullshit,\u201d was how one obviously jealous conductor described his approach while critics called it \u201cprovocative\u201d and \u201cpossibly right?\u201d. Woods performances of the Beethoven symphonies were also enhanced by the use of makeup, hairspray and colored lighting, as well as shoulder pads and leggings for the performers.<\/p>\n \u201cWagner coined the term Gesamkunstwerke, meaning “total-artwork,” a synthesis of musical, literary and visual arts, manifest in his mature operas, but Beethoven was his hero, his model. In his time, options for concert lighting were limited, but he would have loved having a light show that could enhance the experience of the music. I’m proud to have\u00a0elevated Beethoven’s mere abstract instrumental symphonies into true Gesamkunstwerken.\u201d<\/p>\n Since then, he has stormed through the repertoire, bringing an 80\u2019s sensibility to his performances of\u00a0 Rite of Spring with an all-drum-machine percussion section, the Dvorak Wind Serenade with a matched set of Yamaha Midi wind controllers, and on and on.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dx7.roundsquare.net\/img\/DX7.jpg\")
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