Dear Rick and Paul, Thank you for your common-sense contributions. The Sting thread has aroused many passions. I am inclined to think that many of the contributions have been sent in by a load of fuddy-duddies. I am reminded of my old school chaplain, who disliked the Beatles, and seemed to resent their popularity. When I told him that I liked their music, he was aghast. "What sort of voices do they have? Are they tenors?" he asked scathingly. It was the wrong question. They weren't tenors. To be a tenor, meant singing classical music with a trained voice. The Beatles did something else, and it was a mistake on the chaplain's part to try to judge them by inappropriate criteria.
So it is with many of the critical comments levelled against Sting. If we expect him to sound like Emma Kirkby, we shall be disappointed. He sings Dowland his own way. His performance of "Can she excuse my wrongs" has excitement and passion. The out-of-tune notes may grate on our refined ears, but at least they are sung with committment. It is an angry, passionate song, supposedly about the Earl of Essex' unrequited love for Queen Elizabeth. How many times have I heard it sung beautifully by an angelic voice, perfectly in tune, and with no more fire than a damp squib: in tune, but utterly flat? Does HIP matter? Is it a sine qua non? Is Sting trying to promulgate a historically informed performance? Probably not. He has his own agenda. The irony of it all is, his performance is as likely to be as HIP as any other. How do we know Dowland and his contemporaries didn't sing that way? Much has been said in criticism of Karamazov, the lutenist. For me, his performance is also exciting, and I am impressed by the spectacular divisions at the end of the sound clip. His great crime seems to be performing Dowland on an archlute, and with single strings. My Goodness! How could he do such a thing? Wherever was he brought up? Yet, as one who has played the music of Francesco da Milano on an 8-course lute with nylgut strings, I would hesitate to throw the first HIP stone. For me, the big mistake is having the microphones too close to the performers. If that is the sound they are after, good luck to them, but I suspect it was imposed on them by a sound engineer unfamiliar with lutes. If the mike is too close, it will capture that harsh, brittle sound you get when you have your ears right up to the lute ribs. Ideally the mikes should be some distance away, where they are more likely to capture the sound a listener would normally hear from an accoustic instrument. Best wishes, Stewart McCoy. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lindberg Richard-MGIA0539" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Paul Pleijsier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 9:59 PM Subject: *** SPAM *** [LUTE] Re: Single strung archlute !!! > My feelings exactly. I think it is pretty cool for a pop musician to try > anything like this whether it's historically accurate or not. At least > John Dowland's music will be brought to a new audience if nothing else. > Who knows what additonal interest that will pique. > > Rick > > -----Original Message----- > From: Paul Pleijsier [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 4:26 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Single strung archlute !!! > > > If the CD sounds anything like what you can hear at Amazon then it > > must go down as one of the worst lute recordings of all times. What > > are those amazingly loud string noises ? > > Please try to see what it really is: a fantasy performing style, pop > influenced, though not standard Sting-pop, with a poppy use of the > studio, exaggerating string noise, compression etc., trying to find the > missing link between lute playing and modern pyrotechnics. Let's give > Sting and his luter the thumbs up for trying something different. > > PP To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
