Re: [ARSCLIST] The waltz (was Which U.S. orchestra recorded first and Arthur Fiedler)

[Karl Miller <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 3 Apr 2006, Lani Spahr wrote:

> --- Karl Miller <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Based upon the musicology papers and articles I read, you are in the
> > minority.
>
> Hmm... I guess I'm playing with musicians and you're reading papers
> written by musicologists. :-)

My minor was musicology...as for making music with musicologists...the
last time was in graduate school when we were sight reading some madrigals
in the original notation.

> Seriously, there is a big difference. We who do it are musicians first.
> I just got done playing 2 Bach cantatas in Indianapolis and believe me,
> there was rubato. Not 19th C rubato but rhythmic flexibility
> nonetheless.

No doubt this is not necessarily something for the list, but it seems to
me that rubato has become something of a lost art...and, while it is not
good to generalize (but I don't let that keep me from doing so), it seems
to me that when rubato became passe...well, I find the earlier recordings
to engage me more. Also, I guess there is rubato and then there is sloppy
playing...when the sense of the meter is lost.

> > What about rubato? From my experience and training as a musician, I
> > was
> > taught to be a slave to the metronome
>
> Only when practicing the tricky bits. :-)

One of my piano teachers would, during lessons, lightly tap me on the
shoulder to keep the rhythm precise. Just call me Pavlov, but it was
difficult to let go once I had that done so often.

> When the rubber meets the road, we players play what we feel. Feelings
> are a very big part of it, but at the same time we know that late 19th
> C Italian opera phrasing and rubato don't fit in a Bach Cantata, but
> neither does the reverse.

So what do you think of the Brandenburgs conducted by Cortot?

Karl