Re: Haydn’s Innovation
Posted: 17 Feb 2016, 20:00
DatOrganistTho,
I think that the best way to address your questions is with the following statement. I hope it covers everything.
I am an idealist (in the philosophical sense) and think that great pieces of music like this Haydn sonata are ideal objects that exist outside of time and space, so that elements like cultural norms and changes of taste are not really relevant to them. For example, I don't think that the use of an instrument of Haydn's time, or observance of what XYZ said in their book on Classical performance practice is necessary to produce an authentic performance of this sonata.
There are many ways to play these pieces in an authentic way, and they are all approximations to various decimal places. No one performance will ever achieve perfection, but the quest for greater and greater insight is why musicians get up in the morning. What all of these authentic approximations have in common is at least some intuitive understanding of the inner connections and relationships that hold the piece together and allow it to communicate as if it were speaking in a language that we understand. But these authentic approximations might be very different in outward appearance; they might vary in tempo, in dynamic level, in the performer's personal playing style etc. yet be equally "authentic" because they are conveying the same information but in different ways. For me, that is a good thing; and something that many composers desire. They enjoy the different slants that performers bring to their music and performers have nothing to fear from them as long as they present the inner meaning of what the are playing.
Performances like this demonstrate that the details are contained in the whole, so the best way to play this music in an authentic way lies not through details but in understanding the whole. As I mentioned in another post, Schenker felt that interpretive markings could be omitted from such music and divined from the notes only. It is similar with other external details, like the rolled chord under discussion and other symbolized ornaments. It is true of the unmarked details, like phrasing and tempo. And it is also true of the emotional and spiritual meaning of the music. This is because the notes are not merely straight-forward directions for putting fingers and keys down for allotted lengths, but a complex multi-level language that is an outgrowth of our complex, multi-level brain. The real details lie below the surface and are staggering in their complexity; they are far too difficult for our conscious mind and only our intuition is capable of dealing with them.
I can also imagine music in which the meaning resides more in the surface detail than in the whole or equally in both. The notation for this kind of music would be more like what you prefer. However, I can only imagine a performance by electronic means of such music that is exactly the way the composer imagined it; even if every note had its own articulation and exact dynamic level and length specified, human beings would play the piece in many different ways.
I think that the best way to address your questions is with the following statement. I hope it covers everything.
I am an idealist (in the philosophical sense) and think that great pieces of music like this Haydn sonata are ideal objects that exist outside of time and space, so that elements like cultural norms and changes of taste are not really relevant to them. For example, I don't think that the use of an instrument of Haydn's time, or observance of what XYZ said in their book on Classical performance practice is necessary to produce an authentic performance of this sonata.
There are many ways to play these pieces in an authentic way, and they are all approximations to various decimal places. No one performance will ever achieve perfection, but the quest for greater and greater insight is why musicians get up in the morning. What all of these authentic approximations have in common is at least some intuitive understanding of the inner connections and relationships that hold the piece together and allow it to communicate as if it were speaking in a language that we understand. But these authentic approximations might be very different in outward appearance; they might vary in tempo, in dynamic level, in the performer's personal playing style etc. yet be equally "authentic" because they are conveying the same information but in different ways. For me, that is a good thing; and something that many composers desire. They enjoy the different slants that performers bring to their music and performers have nothing to fear from them as long as they present the inner meaning of what the are playing.
Performances like this demonstrate that the details are contained in the whole, so the best way to play this music in an authentic way lies not through details but in understanding the whole. As I mentioned in another post, Schenker felt that interpretive markings could be omitted from such music and divined from the notes only. It is similar with other external details, like the rolled chord under discussion and other symbolized ornaments. It is true of the unmarked details, like phrasing and tempo. And it is also true of the emotional and spiritual meaning of the music. This is because the notes are not merely straight-forward directions for putting fingers and keys down for allotted lengths, but a complex multi-level language that is an outgrowth of our complex, multi-level brain. The real details lie below the surface and are staggering in their complexity; they are far too difficult for our conscious mind and only our intuition is capable of dealing with them.
I can also imagine music in which the meaning resides more in the surface detail than in the whole or equally in both. The notation for this kind of music would be more like what you prefer. However, I can only imagine a performance by electronic means of such music that is exactly the way the composer imagined it; even if every note had its own articulation and exact dynamic level and length specified, human beings would play the piece in many different ways.