[LUTE] Cantio Sarmatoruthenica 137
http://torban.org/sarmatoruthenicae/audio/440.mp3 http://torban.org/sarmatoruthenicae/images/440.pdf It comes with a rare opportunity to hear its vocal prototype: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv2dmNh-iJA Enjoy! Amities, RT To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Season's Greetings
Very cool celebration! Is the thing in your lap Santa's kindness this year? O.T. or not, I'd like to know all about it. Dan On 12/21/2013 9:54 PM, David van Ooijen wrote: Santa was kind this year, so I made a little something to celebrate: [1]http://youtu.be/G5NJsEmD4DA (Warning: OT content) David *** David van Ooijen [2]davidvanooi...@gmail.com [3]www.davidvanooijen.nl *** -- References 1. http://youtu.be/G5NJsEmD4DA 2. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com 3. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Season's Greetings
Santa was kind this year, so I made a little something to celebrate: [1]http://youtu.be/G5NJsEmD4DA (Warning: OT content) David *** David van Ooijen [2]davidvanooi...@gmail.com [3]www.davidvanooijen.nl *** -- References 1. http://youtu.be/G5NJsEmD4DA 2. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com 3. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale
Argh - it looks quite nice, but the page won't accept non-France telephone numbers for contact :( Can anyone help? Edward Chrysogonus Yong edward.y...@gmail.com On 22 Dec, 2013, at 1:50 AM, Valéry Sauvage wrote: > This lute was made in 1991 by John Rollins. It was bought used by a Parisian > school of music for lute courses. As there were no courses any more and the > lute was not played they sold it to make money (for a very low price > indeed). The add, still visible is no longer valid anyway, the instrument > being sold. > Val > > > -Message d'origine- > De : lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] De la part > de Alain Veylit > Envoyé : samedi 21 décembre 2013 17:40 > À : Lute net > Objet : [LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale > > I am just relaying a message from the French list (who got it from the > British list...): a lute is for sale at a suspiciously low price there: > http://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_musique/564241838.htm?ca=21_s. > They are wondering if it may have been stolen or lost. In any case (pun > intended), it is a beautiful instrument and hopefully this is a legit sale. > Alain > PS: It is very hard to tell, but there may be some Japanese or Korean on the > "Fragile" sticker on the lute case > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
[LUTE] William Lawes
Would a kind soul on this list have a scan of Lawes' "Love, I obey, shoot home thy dart"? Thank you! RT To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale
Is it too late to offer £20? But not a penny more! On 12/21/2013 12:12 PM, Monica Hall wrote: 2 years ago the violinist Min-Jin Kym had her Strad violin stolen while she was sitting in a cafe on Euston Station in London. She had it on the floor beside her. Apparently whoever stole it initially tried to sell it to someone in a nearby pub for £10 but he said he didn't want it as his daughter already had a recorder. It did turn up eventually relatively unharmed. Moral of that tale - never leave go of your instrument in a public place. - Original Message - From: "Alain Veylit" To: "Valéry Sauvage" ; "'Lute net'" Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2013 6:02 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale Thanks Val, Everybody feels better now. Instruments sometimes get lost... I think Yoyo Ma left his cello in a taxi in New York once, and there was at least one reported case of a misplaced Stradivarius violin in the past 20 years. Alain On 12/21/2013 09:50 AM, Valéry Sauvage wrote: This lute was made in 1991 by John Rollins. It was bought used by a Parisian school of music for lute courses. As there were no courses any more and the lute was not played they sold it to make money (for a very low price indeed). The add, still visible is no longer valid anyway, the instrument being sold. Val -Message d'origine- De : lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] De la part de Alain Veylit Envoyé : samedi 21 décembre 2013 17:40 À : Lute net Objet : [LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale I am just relaying a message from the French list (who got it from the British list...): a lute is for sale at a suspiciously low price there: http://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_musique/564241838.htm?ca=21_s. They are wondering if it may have been stolen or lost. In any case (pun intended), it is a beautiful instrument and hopefully this is a legit sale. Alain PS: It is very hard to tell, but there may be some Japanese or Korean on the "Fragile" sticker on the lute case To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale
2 years ago the violinist Min-Jin Kym had her Strad violin stolen while she was sitting in a cafe on Euston Station in London. She had it on the floor beside her. Apparently whoever stole it initially tried to sell it to someone in a nearby pub for £10 but he said he didn't want it as his daughter already had a recorder. It did turn up eventually relatively unharmed. Moral of that tale - never leave go of your instrument in a public place. - Original Message - From: "Alain Veylit" To: "Valéry Sauvage" ; "'Lute net'" Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2013 6:02 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale Thanks Val, Everybody feels better now. Instruments sometimes get lost... I think Yoyo Ma left his cello in a taxi in New York once, and there was at least one reported case of a misplaced Stradivarius violin in the past 20 years. Alain On 12/21/2013 09:50 AM, Valéry Sauvage wrote: This lute was made in 1991 by John Rollins. It was bought used by a Parisian school of music for lute courses. As there were no courses any more and the lute was not played they sold it to make money (for a very low price indeed). The add, still visible is no longer valid anyway, the instrument being sold. Val -Message d'origine- De : lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] De la part de Alain Veylit Envoyé : samedi 21 décembre 2013 17:40 À : Lute net Objet : [LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale I am just relaying a message from the French list (who got it from the British list...): a lute is for sale at a suspiciously low price there: http://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_musique/564241838.htm?ca=21_s. They are wondering if it may have been stolen or lost. In any case (pun intended), it is a beautiful instrument and hopefully this is a legit sale. Alain PS: It is very hard to tell, but there may be some Japanese or Korean on the "Fragile" sticker on the lute case To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale
Thanks Val, Everybody feels better now. Instruments sometimes get lost... I think Yoyo Ma left his cello in a taxi in New York once, and there was at least one reported case of a misplaced Stradivarius violin in the past 20 years. Alain On 12/21/2013 09:50 AM, Valéry Sauvage wrote: This lute was made in 1991 by John Rollins. It was bought used by a Parisian school of music for lute courses. As there were no courses any more and the lute was not played they sold it to make money (for a very low price indeed). The add, still visible is no longer valid anyway, the instrument being sold. Val -Message d'origine- De : lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] De la part de Alain Veylit Envoyé : samedi 21 décembre 2013 17:40 À : Lute net Objet : [LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale I am just relaying a message from the French list (who got it from the British list...): a lute is for sale at a suspiciously low price there: http://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_musique/564241838.htm?ca=21_s. They are wondering if it may have been stolen or lost. In any case (pun intended), it is a beautiful instrument and hopefully this is a legit sale. Alain PS: It is very hard to tell, but there may be some Japanese or Korean on the "Fragile" sticker on the lute case To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale
This lute was made in 1991 by John Rollins. It was bought used by a Parisian school of music for lute courses. As there were no courses any more and the lute was not played they sold it to make money (for a very low price indeed). The add, still visible is no longer valid anyway, the instrument being sold. Val -Message d'origine- De : lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] De la part de Alain Veylit Envoyé : samedi 21 décembre 2013 17:40 À : Lute net Objet : [LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale I am just relaying a message from the French list (who got it from the British list...): a lute is for sale at a suspiciously low price there: http://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_musique/564241838.htm?ca=21_s. They are wondering if it may have been stolen or lost. In any case (pun intended), it is a beautiful instrument and hopefully this is a legit sale. Alain PS: It is very hard to tell, but there may be some Japanese or Korean on the "Fragile" sticker on the lute case To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Question on String Tension
Yes, Leonard, there are! But that's where the math is becoming really exciting, large integrals and differentials arriving in droves, and then departing, leaving the human brain bloodless and exhausted. Therefore this coefficients must be ignored, (especially since the manner in which gut and metal are intermixed in one string) all while inharmonicity is increasing dangerously. alexander r. On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 07:29:18 -0500 Leonard Williams wrote: > Are there coefficients of elasticity for the two different materials (gut, > metal) that must be taken into account? > > Leonard To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: LUTE for sale
I am just relaying a message from the French list (who got it from the British list...): a lute is for sale at a suspiciously low price there: http://www.leboncoin.fr/instruments_de_musique/564241838.htm?ca=21_s. They are wondering if it may have been stolen or lost. In any case (pun intended), it is a beautiful instrument and hopefully this is a legit sale. Alain PS: It is very hard to tell, but there may be some Japanese or Korean on the "Fragile" sticker on the lute case To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Saturday morning quotes - and a gift
We have posted our Saturday quotes, this week on an important anniversary and with a gift of lute music to our friends in the lute world. [1]http://wp.me/p15OyV-Th Donna & Ron -- References 1. http://wp.me/p15OyV-Th To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: and the early music movement
"On the other hand, all onstage jazz impro's were tried out before in rehearsal. There are very few musicians who do free-impro, total on-the-spot improvisation, onstage." Not knowing precisely what Ernesto means by "free-improv" or "total on-the-spot improvisation" I am still dubious about this statement. I can say from experience that here (USA) jazz musicians consistently improvise their choruses without having rehearsed them beforehand, whether on stage, in a club, or just in a session. And given any familiar tune, the standard chord changes may be altered and improvised upon without rehearsal. This is simply the most basic aspect of jazz, and is what any jazz musician does. Ned To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: and the early music movement
I do not feel that I need to defend Christopher Wilke. If I had a substantive question or issue with early music, I would go top Chris way before I would ask any of the "pros" you mention. I would like to take a moment to address the "all pros I heard until now were very good." statement. Perhaps, Ernesto, you should listen more critically or get out more - I have heard some emperors play who had no cloths at all. Joseph Mayes From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of erne...@aquila.mus.br [erne...@aquila.mus.br] Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2013 7:37 AM To: Christopher Wilke Cc: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Dmth; howard posner Subject: [LUTE] Re: and the early music movement Christopher, maybe you should start to hear good early music musicians. They all improvise, and are excellent at it. I do not know any recorder, theorbo, cembalo, clarinet, cornetto, etc etc player who does not improvise. They learn it at school, in ensembles, from each other. Take Van Eick, a basic recorder repertoire - full with improvisation. Any Basso Continuo is an improvisation of sorts. On the other hand, all onstage jazz impro's were tried out before in rehearsal. There are very few musicians who do free-impro, total on-the-spot improvisation, onstage. Even Metheny and Coleman's "song x", a timeless masterpiece, is not way out free in the utter sense of free improvisation. Bad early music exists as well. I only hear it from amateurs. All pros I heard until now were very good. A huge number of amateurs is excellent as well. Your comments on early music are very unrealistic. Have you ever been to the Basel conservatoire yourself? Ernesto Ett 11-99 242120 4 11-28376692 Em 20.12.2013, às 20:51, Christopher Wilke escreveu: Howard, On Fri, 12/20/13, howard posner wrote: On Dec 19, 2013, at 5:27 AM, Christopher Wilke wrote: >> This also fits in nicely with Richard Taruskin's often stated thesis >>that early music performance practice today is really a modern >>fabrication that seeks to apply 20th (now 21st) century aesthetic >>preferences to past music. > This would make sense only if there were a single > 20th-century aesthetic preference. Who is to say there is not? Those alive during a historical period are too sensitive to the trees of plurality to discern the forest of ideology motivating seemingly disparate activities. (I assume most of us on this list are holdovers born in the 20th century. If there are any lutenists age 13 or younger on this list, please feel free to let us know your assessment of the degree of aesthetic cohesion exemplified in artistic movements of the last century. Probably, "Uh, you mean that old stuff? Like, I dunno. Don't care.") > The important thing about "20th-century aesthetic > preferences to past music" is that the 20th century > preferred past music. Audiences turned out for music > of the 18th and 19th centuries more than for the new > stuff. That had never happened before. Hardly. Audiences turn out in droves for new popular music: "product" intended to be enjoyed for a while before being discarded in favor of the next hit. It may come as a shock to us on the list, but very few people in the general population pay attention to classical music at all. We're the oddballs and I'm afraid Beyonce has us lute players beaten by a large margin in terms of broader musical relevance in the present. > Because early musicians spend lots of time in factories Yes. In music, they are called "conservatories." >> and the repeatable, homogenized >> regularity of product made possible by the use of >> computers. > I'm not sure I follow you here. Are you talking about > digital recording, or something else? Well, no, I wasn't speaking of digital recording specifically, but that is a new development of the 20th century. While the invention of aural recording and the resultant commodification of the resultant mass-produced product, has certainly had an influence on the way music was performed in the 20th/21st centuries, that is really a much larger topic. I was rather referring to the psychological mindset incurred when one is able to press a button and have 100 identical pages print versus the old school method of one having to manually press 100 similar, yet slightly distinct pages, or the even older method of writing out 100 pages by hand. We expect the characteristics of like objects to be extremely consistent, if not exact. (See the above remark about conservatory training.) There is every reason to believe that earlier generations neither expected or desired total consistency. Indeed, improvisation and ornamentation WERE the expected tools of all professional musicians. Listeners knew that every hearing of a piece would be unique. We, however, expect our MP3s to sound exactly the same on each playing. Our HIP performers
[LUTE] Re: and the early music movement
Christopher, maybe you should start to hear good early music musicians. They all improvise, and are excellent at it. I do not know any recorder, theorbo, cembalo, clarinet, cornetto, etc etc player who does not improvise. They learn it at school, in ensembles, from each other. Take Van Eick, a basic recorder repertoire - full with improvisation. Any Basso Continuo is an improvisation of sorts. On the other hand, all onstage jazz impro's were tried out before in rehearsal. There are very few musicians who do free-impro, total on-the-spot improvisation, onstage. Even Metheny and Coleman's "song x", a timeless masterpiece, is not way out free in the utter sense of free improvisation. Bad early music exists as well. I only hear it from amateurs. All pros I heard until now were very good. A huge number of amateurs is excellent as well. Your comments on early music are very unrealistic. Have you ever been to the Basel conservatoire yourself? Ernesto Ett 11-99 242120 4 11-28376692 Em 20.12.2013, às 20:51, Christopher Wilke escreveu: Howard, On Fri, 12/20/13, howard posner wrote: On Dec 19, 2013, at 5:27 AM, Christopher Wilke wrote: >> This also fits in nicely with Richard Taruskin's often stated thesis >>that early music performance practice today is really a modern >>fabrication that seeks to apply 20th (now 21st) century aesthetic >>preferences to past music. > This would make sense only if there were a single > 20th-century aesthetic preference. Who is to say there is not? Those alive during a historical period are too sensitive to the trees of plurality to discern the forest of ideology motivating seemingly disparate activities. (I assume most of us on this list are holdovers born in the 20th century. If there are any lutenists age 13 or younger on this list, please feel free to let us know your assessment of the degree of aesthetic cohesion exemplified in artistic movements of the last century. Probably, "Uh, you mean that old stuff? Like, I dunno. Don't care.") > The important thing about "20th-century aesthetic > preferences to past music" is that the 20th century > preferred past music. Audiences turned out for music > of the 18th and 19th centuries more than for the new > stuff. That had never happened before. Hardly. Audiences turn out in droves for new popular music: "product" intended to be enjoyed for a while before being discarded in favor of the next hit. It may come as a shock to us on the list, but very few people in the general population pay attention to classical music at all. We're the oddballs and I'm afraid Beyonce has us lute players beaten by a large margin in terms of broader musical relevance in the present. > Because early musicians spend lots of time in factories Yes. In music, they are called "conservatories." >> and the repeatable, homogenized >> regularity of product made possible by the use of >> computers. > I'm not sure I follow you here. Are you talking about > digital recording, or something else? Well, no, I wasn't speaking of digital recording specifically, but that is a new development of the 20th century. While the invention of aural recording and the resultant commodification of the resultant mass-produced product, has certainly had an influence on the way music was performed in the 20th/21st centuries, that is really a much larger topic. I was rather referring to the psychological mindset incurred when one is able to press a button and have 100 identical pages print versus the old school method of one having to manually press 100 similar, yet slightly distinct pages, or the even older method of writing out 100 pages by hand. We expect the characteristics of like objects to be extremely consistent, if not exact. (See the above remark about conservatory training.) There is every reason to believe that earlier generations neither expected or desired total consistency. Indeed, improvisation and ornamentation WERE the expected tools of all professional musicians. Listeners knew that every hearing of a piece would be unique. We, however, expect our MP3s to sound exactly the same on each playing. Our HIP performers are more influenced by the latter than the former. Consider how many early music performers today improvise in concert. Sure, there are some who can do it, but today, despite the fact that we know of its past importance, it is not at all an obligatory skill for HIP musicians. Improvisation means that occasionally you'll have too many notes in a run or find yourself with the next note of that repeated figure just out of reach, or even - oh, the horror! - play a wrong note. Can't have that. Not consistent. A reviewer, still stinging from the backlash resulting from a negative Segovia review, would relish the opportunity to expostulate that sort of informed, yet anachronistic (for 20th century aesthetics) performance. >>It would be to
[LUTE] Re: Question on String Tension
Are there coefficients of elasticity for the two different materials (gut, metal) that must be taken into account? Leonard On 12/20/13, 11:48 AM, "David Smith" wrote: >Hi Alexander, >Thank you. Since my question is unrelated to fretting and is only related >to tuning Pythagoras's relation does not apply. The Mersenne relation >does apply when tuning and the derivative of > F ~ sqrt(T) >Is > F'(T) ~ 1/sqrt(T) > >This is where my thought that increasing the a higher tension string will >be less sensitive to changes in tension than a lower tension string. > >When I plot the partial derivative of F'(T) using the values for this >string I find that the sensitivity is actually quite small; less than >1/10th of a hertz per Newton. This is why I was wondering what people's >experience has been with gimped gut strings and if changing the nominal >tension of the string (by changing the diameter) would make a >difference. The general answer is no and that changing the density of the >string, by going to a different material is more effective. Or changing >the length by going to a bass rider was another suggestion. > >The engineer in me is trying to understand this numerically. Probably >more useful to get back to playing and enjoying my instrument and live >with its personal characteristics. > >Thanks all for the discussion. > >Regards >David > >Sent from my iPad > >> On Dec 20, 2013, at 3:09 AM, alexander wrote: >> >> >> David, >> >> according to Pythagoras, When the tension on a string remains the same >> but the length L is varied, the period of the vibration is proportional >> to L. >> >> According to Mersenne - When the length of a string is held constant >> but the tension T is varied, the frequency of oscillation is >> proportional to sqrt(T). >> >> When the string is pressed down to a fret, both its' length and its' >>tension are increased. Increase in length produces more effect, as the >>effect of tension is square-rooted. >> >> At the low low octave, from G (98 Hz) to A (110 Hz) are just 12 >> (twelve) notches (or however one would like to describe the little >>Herzes) >> At the next octave up, from G (196 Hz) to A (220 Hz) are 24 notches >> >> When we consider, that the length of the string (since we use the same >>instrument, just drop or raise the pitch of the string in question) will >>increase by the same value, let's call it a "6", >> >> That "6" in the low low octave will increase the Frequency almost by a >>half tone, while in one octave up - just by a quarter. >> >> Therefore the string deformation of a low tension string at the lower >>pitch will change that pitch noticeably much more then at any higher >>pitch. >> >> alexander r. >> >> On Thu, 19 Dec 2013 21:17:49 -0800 >> "David Smith" wrote: >> >> >>> Thanks. I really appreciate the feedback. If Alexander gets a chance >>>to post >>> his formulas that would be great. I think I will continue to live with >>>it >>> since I have for many months so far. >>> >>> Regards >>> David >>> > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Bream Collection... I
Besides that she made subtle and rich music which may not have been noted by a passer-by, with a wide range of musicians over time. Ernesto Ett 11-99 242120 4 11-28376692 Em 20.12.2013, às 18:40, "Monica Hall" escreveu: Emma Kirkby sings the way she does because she was a product of the English Cathedral choral tradition and does or did emmulate the sound that English choirboys make and are assumed to have made in the past. Whether this is the case is hard to tell but I have heard recordings of the Sistine Chapel Choir and the Choir of Westminster Cathedral made at the beginning of the 20th century and the tone that the boys made was not unlike that of English choirboys today. I don't see where Joan Baez comes into it myself. - Original Message - From: "howard posner" To: Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 6:54 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Bream Collection... I > On Dec 19, 2013, at 5:27 AM, Christopher Wilke wrote: > >> This also fits in nicely with Richard Taruskin's often stated thesis >> that early music performance practice today is really a modern >> fabrication that seeks to apply 20th (now 21st) century aesthetic >> preferences to past music. > > This would make sense only if there were a single 20th-century aesthetic > preference. > > Taruskin's usual lucidity rather deserted him here, floating away in a sea of > abstract nouns. It all falls apart when you try to be specific about it. > For example, he famously suggested (in his article in Early Music magazine > around 1983, if not in Text and Act, a book I've never succeeded in slogging > all the way through) that Emma Kirkby's straight delivery had as much to do > with Joan Baez as with being historically informed, an odd notion in my view, > since I always found Baez' vibrato too intense for my taste. But even > assuming Taruskin chose a good example, why did Kirkby emulate Baez, rather > than some other singer who was popular in the sixties and early seventies? > She could have chosen to sing like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Rod McKuen, > Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin (wouldn't you love to hear Jagger and > Joplin sing "Sweet Kate"?), John Lennon, Andy Williams, Merle Haggard, Birgit > Nilsson or Beverly Sills, all of whom represented current aesthetic prefere! nc! > es. Why not any of them as the model for a "modern fabrication"? I'm > inclined to go for the obvious explanation that answers questions rather than > raising them: people in early are doing what they think they're doing. > > The important thing about "20th-century aesthetic preferences to past music" > is that the 20th century preferred past music. Audiences turned out for > music of the 18th and 19th centuries more than for the new stuff. That had > never happened before. Classical music, and the symphony orchestra in > particular, became museums preserving music of previous generations, and the > logical and inevitable outgrowth of that phenomenon was that some of the > curators wanted to do it "right," just like the curators who cleaned the old > cloudy varnish off the Rembrandt painting called the "Night Watch" and > discovered it wasn't a night scene at all. > >> Indeed, the technically clean, vibrato-less, >> metronomic, inexpressive character of many performances of early music >> nowadays seems to be an artistic reflection of mechanized >> industrialization, assembly lines, > > Because early musicians spend lots of time in factories > > Beware the logical fallacy of "they exist at the same time, therefore there > must be some cause and effect," or you can wind up joining the "vaccination > causes [insert your favorite ailment here]" crowd. Cause and effect requires > a mechanism. > > In any event, mechanized industrialization and assembly lines have coexisted > for nearly a century with continuous vibrato, which is largely a post-World > War I development and is still the dominant way of playing and singing > classical music -- some higher-level orchestras have taken to playing Mozart > differently from the way they play Rachmaninoff, but it hasn't filtered down > much to the less exalted professional ranks. > >> and the repeatable, homogenized >> regularity of product made possible by the use of computers. > > I'm not sure I follow you here. Are you talking about digital recording, or > something else? > >> It would be too much of a stretch to suggest that the approach of >> Segovia and contemporaries provides a model of early interpretation >> today, but one might be able to argue that, being older, some aspects >> of those aesthetic priorities were (un/subconsciously) closer to the >> spirit of earlier times than the modern performance dogma. > > True in a very limited way, insofar as the spirit of earlier times was "I > play the way I play because I like to play that way; I play the best way I > can based on my own inclinations and the way I was taught to play." Th
