Dear Naomi, Mike and Vocalisters:
This discussion has taken on a life of its own. I enjoy that. But I
must say that my quoting Bernstein in his definition of differences
between classical music and popular music was take from one of his
children's concerts with the NY Phil. For that reason it is simple,
not a bit overstated (it was Bernstein, remember) and valuable only
in the sense that one considers it in the broadest perspective.
Without a doubt there is a continuum of expressive requirements for
performers from the most most loosely knit assembly of musical sounds
to the most exacting pointillistic expression of minimalistic works.
Near one end of this continuum would be the expressive freedom of the
blues and near the other end the music of Mozart, for example.
Somewhere about the middle of this line one would began to consider
the music "classical" in the broadest meaning of that term.
"Classical" in this sense would encompass both of its recurring
extremes, Romanticism and Classicism. One could as easily say the
music is becoming more exact and is to be recreated with proper
attention to not only the written score but also the stylistic
"score."
Performers of this music must not only be aware of the particulars of
the score they are preparing but also of how this score relates, at
least stylistically, to other works that are within the gamut of such
"Classical" works. Mozart style is different from Bach style, etc.
Of course, this brings up the never ending question of how do we know
exactly what Mozart style or Bach style is or should be. We now
enter the rather new musicological field of "performance practices"
Performance practice concerns require that the artist give due
consideration to the "how" of performing. Do I add ornaments in da
capo arias of Bach the same way I would in da capo arias of Mozart?
Or, are there differences between the ornaments of Bach as compared
with those of his contemporary, Handel?
But for all of these concerns there is still a reality that the
performer is primarily a re-creator. Opera arias were most often
written not only for a particular voice type but for a particular
person who was already selected to sing the role. When performed by
another singer of even the same voice type, adjustments are often
made, and correctly so, but they are made within the evident intent
and style of the score. This is a performance adjustment that is
seldom required of an instrumentalist because the potential of any
given instrument is so similar from one make to another. By
comparison, the voice presents more extremes of difference and
potential between voices, even of the same vocal type. These are
accommodations to allow the performance.
Within the continuum there is also a change in the opportunities for
the performers own personality to become a part of the re-creation.
The opportunities available for a concert violinist to impress his
listeners with his personality or lack of personality is markedly
different when compared to the violinist in the country group, Dixie
Chicks.
Singers, by the nature of their body being their instrument, will
always have more opportunity to "present" themselves as a
personality. Consequently they must become aware of how much of
themselves is to be expressed and how much the music should
subordinate their personality expression. The ideal is that
personality is expressed through the music when one is performing
music on the classical end of the continuum. When a performer of
classical music imposes his/her own personality on the music to the
extent that the musical content is obscured, the performer is guilty
of the sin of "mannerism". When Elizabeth Swartzkopf and Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau (as found in his later recordings) overly stylize
their performances they are displaying a manneristic approach that
makes us more aware of them as performers than we are the music of
Schubert. This is not the basic intent of classical music.
A comparison between Jazz and those areas of Classical music that
specifically call for musical content from the performer is logical.
But there is a very substantial difference between what is requested
from the classical performer and what is requested from the Jazz
performer. The degree of freedom left to the classical performer is
more limited both in matters of melodic content and rhythmic
alterations if the performer is to remain in the Baroque or Classical
style. The Jazz performer is, in reality, only limited by the
chordal structure of music and even this building block may be
assaulted if the chordal structure itself is not destroyed.
I express a concern here that many young performers seem unaware of
stylistic and score demands placed upon them by the music they choose
to deliver. We may disagree with our likes and dislikes about
performers but there are standards of performance that should be
recognized if the music is to retain its integrity. The standards
of performance are not hard and fast nor are they always blatantly
obvious but one should know when the line has been crossed and the
music basically destroyed.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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