Thank your for the compliment, Stephen. It is always good to hear positive comments about the work we do.
Yes, rolled chords are an area that I think is very subjective, as I do not believe we have all the answers. I have been playing lute for many years, mostly baroque lute. If one listens to baroque lute, there is a great deal of rolling and arpeggiations going one, and this is my orientation. Almost all baroque lutenists are very liberal when it comes to this, as it is the style, especially with French music. I find that this device of rolling / arpeggiation can be a very expressive means of phrasing an idea or vocal line. Prior to being asked to record this program for Lyre Music, I'd had little experience with the French renaissance lute music , and I was not alone in this regard. There were very few French renaissance lute recordings of all French music.......... there are many with a few French pieces, but only 2 of an all French program. My CD contains many of the Phalese intabulations, previously unrecorded (I was and still am unaware of any other Phalese intabulations recorded). One thing about these intabulations........ they are entirely different on a solo lute, than they are sung as vocal polyphony. If we were to block every chord, or when the vocal lines hit a simultaneous note, I think some of the sweetness, especially the gentle dissonance, could be missed & not heard. So, separating the voices can be a very elegant tool. I prepared for this recording by finding the beauty & "soul" of this music, and I found it to be a very, very gentle style - in significant contrast to the Italian style. The music seemed to me to be asking to phrase it as gently as possible, with feeling. So, the arpeggiation came naturally, so I used it, almost with an attitude of it being "early French baroque lute music", which it is! So, my decision to use rolling was to bridge the gap between Attaingnant, Phalese, Morlaye, de Rippe, Belin, Le Roy et all with Gaultier - to make this music "French". Some of the same "French" elements are as present with Attaingnant as they are with Gaultier or Mouton. When we hear French baroque lute music, it has a unique style, with all the broken chords, rolls, arpeggiation, ornaments, etc. I put some of that into this recording, but on a much smaller scale. The academian in me says rolling is not so often used in the renaissance, but it seemed to be that using it in phrasing was important, as this French repertoire is special, in my opinion. I have done a lot of work with the vihuela the past year, and I do not use rolling, hardly at all, usually only on cadences for the Spanish music. I hope this helps! Edward At 07:56 PM 5/26/04 -0500, Stephen Arndt wrote: >Actually, I started thinking about this issue when I was listening to a = >CD entitled "The Art of the Lute in Renaissance France. Volume 1: Early = >to Mid 16th Century" performed by Edward Martin to accompany the Lyre = >tablature publication by the same title. Edward, in the brief time that = >I have been a member of this e-mail group, I have noticed that you have = >contributed to the discussions. I have greatly enjoyed your playing on = >this CD and have listened to it repeatedly, paying particular attention = >to your style. It seems to me that you make a fairly liberal use of = >rolled chords on this CD, and I would be very interested in any comments = >you might have about your use of them. > >Best regards to all, > >Stephen Arndt
