Sunday, May 01, 2005
Interpretation
There's an interesting thread going on right now in the Why Patterns listserv (Why Patterns is a mailing list for people interested in the music of Morton Feldman). Feldman's Composition for Violin from 1984 is, like much of his later music, notated in a way that many purists would find unusual. Rather than writing B-natural, Feldman may write it as a Cb, etc. THis isn't done consistently, leading to speculation that he was aiming for a microtonal effect that one could not realize easily on a piano. Indeed, the performer/composer Marc Sabat has recorded this piece using a different tuning system, and he provides a really nice account here.
The issue has to do with interpretation. How much freedom can/should a performer take with new music? Or is it more a case of, as Glenn Freeman aptly put it, good music being left alone, since the "masterworks" will play themselves if musicians follow the composer's written instructions.
Personally, I would like my music to be interpreted. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of notes that my computer can play just as well. Real performers can bring a lot to a composition. There are numerous recorded performances of Feldman's Triadic Memories, all of which are very different (and all of which have their passionate supporters and detractors). So while some music may indeed "play itself," I don't know that it's true that all of Feldman's scores provide so much detailed instruction that it should be obvious how they should be performed. Triadic Memories, for example, lacks a metronome marking, leaving it up to the performer's tastes and understanding.
In the case of Feldman's Composition for Violin, the microtonal version leaves me a bit cold. I like a lot of microtonal music (Ives, Young, Lutoslawski in particular come to mind). But it is not at all clear that Feldman intended anything other than perhaps a subtle differentiation by the violinist with certain notes (ie, does a C-flat really mean the same thing as a B-natural?).
To make a long story short, should performers have such discretion, even to the point of rendering a new tuning system (just intonation, etc) when there is no clear indication by the composer that this should be the case? How much leeway does a performer of new music have? Should they have any discretion at all? Interesting questions...
posted by David Toub
7:49 PM
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