Bob Draper wrote:

>I like this analogy between music and art.  Let me put another proposition
>to you.  Would like to you touch up the Mono Lisa with brighter colours?
>Perhaps we could make Van Gough's lines a bit smoother.  Or, sharpen up
>a Turner.
>
>Of course such ideas are anathema to most people.  So why do we touch
>up classical music Haydn/Mozart/Bach etc by playing it on modern less
>astringent instruments or with larger ensembles? Why do people tolerate
>this? Isn't this sacrilige?

First of all, the analogy of music to art does not hold water.  A work of
art like the Mona Lisa is a finished product.  It may not be tampered with,
or the original is lost.  A musical composition is just symbols on paper
and does not take on meaning until it is made into sound (unless you can
hear it in your head by reading the score.) There is a necessary middleman
(middlewoman!) called a performer.  If it is a large work, there are two
middlepeople or many more.  They are the conductor and the musicians.
Add to that mixture the many WAYS in which those bare symbols can be
interpreted, and you will see where your comparison falls down.

And btw, playing pieces with Baroque instruments, gut strings and a
baroque bow with less tension will hardly produce a sound that I'd call
"astringent." However, you can play your piece with official, kosher,
four square baroque instruments, and you will STILL get different results
depending on the individual instrument you use.  The tambre will vary from
hunk of wood and handful of horsehair.  Ask anyone who has been playing on
fortepianos recently.  You have to MODIFY the way you play something to fit
the idiosyncracies of the instruments you use whether modern or ancient.

I think the analogy is more -- would you like to view the Mona Lisa
cleaned of the years of grit and grime? Perhaps you'd like to see it with
artificial light? Or daylight? Under a microscope? Outdoors? How was it
meant to be viewed? Certainly not with electric lights.  Does that mean you
are NOT ALLOWED TO SEE IT if it's illuminated with electric lights? And was
it meant to be seen from afar with many people standing in the way? Was it
meant to be seen as a work ALONE, or in conjunction with hundreds of other
works of art from many different periods, by people foot-weary on tour for
a week, trying to cram as much into their museum visits as humanly
possible?

I have performed Bach in swinging, exciting HIP groups and in square,
full-bodied, lush ones.  I have created derangements for the benefit of my
students, so they could learn to love the master by participating, rather
than by observing from afar.  When one instrument was lacking, I have had
the temerity to substitute another.  We've played the Bach Double with two
violin students and a bassoon.  And it excited those kids so much they had
to be bribed to stop!  I have bought cds of performances ranging from
Mahler's arrangements, Stokie's arrangements, Ormandy's arrangements, to
the more "pure" and scholarly.  I even coached a string quartet with two
second violins because only together could they could manage to play all
the notes.  We played four part chorales.  I LOVE IT ALL.  It all speaks
to me.  I can enjoy the fattest Bach and the leanest, too.  I don't know
why it must be an either-or thing at all.

I am getting very tired of this modern-vs-historical kind of spit-ball
tossing.  If the performance or the music itself grabs you and makes you
want to play it, hear it, sing it or dance to it, then by all means, enjoy
it.  If "it" happens to be the bass viol version of the chaccone, so be it.
If you can play the thing on the mandolin or kazoo, more power to you.

Bach wrote baby pieces for his kids.  They all gathered 'round and sang
funny songs, slightly risque songs, and they probably had a great time with
their music.  Why should we try to stick it in a girdle and squeeze the
life out of it? Music is part of living, not some special ritual that only
happens under very sacred circumstances.  If I want to whistle Monteverdi
in the shower do I have to make sure I'm doing it with a special pair of
Baroque lips? If I feel like hearing to the entire Philadelphia Orchestra
play Bach to Slice Veggies By, do I need to report to the Listening Police?

On the other hand, when I go to a formal performance, I hope that the
highest standards of musicianship will be met.  And *I* am the one who
decides what those standards are, since I'm the one buying the ticket.

As I have said before under very similar circumstances, there is room here
for ALL OF IT.  Whatever your taste, you will find someone to share it,
moment by moment.

Mimi Ezust <[log in to unmask]>