{"id":807,"date":"2009-04-16T19:56:55","date_gmt":"2009-04-16T19:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2009\/04\/16\/style-and-range\/"},"modified":"2009-04-16T19:56:55","modified_gmt":"2009-04-16T19:56:55","slug":"style-and-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2009\/04\/16\/style-and-range\/","title":{"rendered":"Style and Range"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m having an early Beethoven year so far- two runs of Beethoven 1 with the SMP last month, now Beethoven 2 in Pendleton, with the 4th<\/sup> to follow in a few weeks at the Helix Ensemble.<\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been a whole lot of time to revisit recordings of these pieces- I\u2019ve mostly been working at the piano when not at the desk, but I have been struck in the recordings I\u2019ve listened to at just how disastrous the results of some \u201cold school\u201d recordings of the First are.<\/p>\n

Soggy, heavy, flabby. Ick….<\/p>\n

Listening to some of these performances, where a Bruckner sound is being used in a near-Haydn context is like watching a 400 pound NFL lineman trying to compete in the swimsuit competition of Miss Petite USA. As my sister says- \u201cnot the body for it.\u201d In this sense, we all owe the HIP gang a huge debt in these pieces. Not because they showed us how we should be doing Beethoven 1 (Ferenc Friscay made the definitive, buns of steel Beethoven 1 many years ago, available as part of DG\u2019s retrospective box set), but because, through their advocacy, they\u2019ve largely rendered unacceptable forever the Beethoven as Bruckner\u201d approach.<\/p>\n

I got my first HIP LvB set when I was learning the 9th<\/sup>, and I remember thinking that the performance of that symphony just wasn\u2019t competitive with many others. Not enough range of color, not enough flexibility, not enough power, not dramatic enough. Later, though, I listened in absolute delight to the 1st<\/sup>, 8th<\/sup> and 2nd<\/sup> symphonies. I\u2019ve had similarly disappointing\u00a0experiences with the Finale of the 5th<\/sup> over the years- it\u2019s a music that needs grandeur which some period performers (not all!) shy away from as if embaressed. My dissatisfaction with those\u00a0recordings is not because the performers in question didn\u2019t know what they were doing (the standards were always\u00a0high), but simply because the range of Beethoven\u2019s stylistic range and evolution is so huge that any single group of performers will always be hard pressed to match it. Sooner or later, your own ticks and preferences reveal themselves to the listener. The 9th<\/sup> really does live in a different universe to the 1st<\/sup>, but the 1st<\/sup> doesn\u2019t live in Haydn\u2019s world and the 9th<\/sup> doesn\u2019t live in Brahms\u2019s.<\/p>\n

In fact, we had originally considered pairing the 9th<\/sup> and 2nd<\/sup> symphonies on this concert, which would have been interesting. I always think of the D minor outburst in the introduction of the 1st<\/sup> mvt of the 2nd<\/sup> as being a suddenly glimpse of worlds to come in the 1st<\/sup> mvt of the 9th<\/sup>\u00a0. Could we have captured anything close to the range of sounds and colors those two works need in one concert?<\/p>\n

How about the range of sounds needed in a single work?<\/p>\n

Musical styles impose their own laws of physics and behavior- cause and effect relationships between tonic and dominant chords in Mozart are different than in Beethoven. In one style,\u00a0phrases lead forward, in another, they release from.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, in a piece like the Mozart Requiem, which is Baroque, even Handelian in one movement and Verdian in the next, and only “Mozartian” in the Hostias (a heartbreakingly simple glimpse into his world in a piece that is otherwise austerely universal-fascinating that he would conceive his most personal piece in such an abstract\u00a0and ancient style), the laws of musical physics change constantly<\/em><\/strong>. What goes up comes down in one movement, but what goes up turns left in another. Somehow, the conductor has got to be true to all these changing laws and mixing styles while at the same time, keeping the incredible sense of unity<\/em><\/strong> Mozart has built into the piece.<\/p>\n

You see, while the Recordare and the Sanctus could easily be by Bach (in fact, the Recordare is based on a Sinfonia by WF Bach<\/a>, one of Mozart\u2019s heroes) and Beethoven respectively, the Osanna fugue which ends the Sanctus is based on the same intervals as the Recordare theme. In fact, there is no movement in the piece (including those \u201cby\u201d Sussmayr) that isn\u2019t full of thematic connections to the first. The Lacrimosa starts with the same harmonic progression as the\u00a0Introit and ends with a quotation of the Requiem theme. The “Quam olim Abrahae” fugue is based on the “Et lux perpetua” theme of the Itroitus.\u00a0Even the Recordare theme is a\u00a0variation of the Requiem theme,\u00a0rising a tri-tone instead of a second trom the leading tone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How do we balance unity with range? I think most performances falter because at some extreme of style and emotion they\u2019re not able to match the breadth of Mozart\u2019s vision- they might be too elegant in the Confutatis or too ponderous in the Hostias.<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m too young to answer this question (I was going to end the blog with the question!), but I\u2019ll try.<\/p>\n

I think, at the end of the day, you have to learn absolutely everything you possibly can about style, and then you have to disenthrall yourself from it. You have to totally let go of your own ideas about Mozart, Handel and everything else and look to the score, and be absolutely true to what you find, not to what you bring. At the end of the day, its about listening, not about conducting, not about deciding.<\/p>\n

Listening without prejudice and being true to what you hear. Letting go of those prejudices is the hardest part.<\/p>\n

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