Dear Bruno:
I feel obliged to say a few words here. While your concert review was much
appreciated by those of us who, unhappily, do not have the opportunity to hear
such great artists perform in our locale, your comments about the lute playing
seemed a bit misguided.
My first question to you is, do you know how much ground work Anthony Rooley
has done to make the 'lute revival' what it is today? While this question has
nothing to do with technique, nor with your concert experience, I think it is
important to demonstrate a bit of respect for the people who have, through
writings, recordings and performances, created an example from which we have
come to understand and interpret this music we love so much.
Secondly, I have to ask how much do you perform on the lute? Have you played
in the hall you described? There are certain things that are just beyond our
control when we perform, and the size of the hall is usually dictatated by
matters such as availability of the space and monetary considerations. We all
know that the renaissance lute was meant to be played in a small, reverberant
space for only a few listeners. While this performing situation is not
practical if one wishes to have a monetary return on the performance, it helps
if the audience is fully aware and chooses to focus attention on the nuance of
the music, rather than carp that it's not loud enough.
Lastly, a word about lute technique. We, as humans, are all put together a bit
differently. We all have different fingers. This was undoubtedly the case
400-500 years ago as well. There never was _one_ way to play the lute, and
there still is not _one_ way to play the lute. If your background is, like so
many lutenists, classical guitar, then I can only say I'm sorry. I understand
the idea that Segovia's technique is the only way to play guitar has slowly
given way since that great artist passed on.
Hopefully, lutenists will at some point stop being afraid that they are doing
it wrong, and get on with playing music in a way that touches the listener.
While I have not had the privilege of hearing Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley in
a live concert, I do appreciate their obvious mutual understanding of the music
they play. I accept the quiet performance because it gives me the opportunity
to listen intently and focus on the music.
Best wishes,
Ron Andrico
http://www.mignarda.com
> Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:13:24 -0300> To: [email protected]> From:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [LUTE] Lute concert> > > Dear lutenists,> > While
> having a glass of Malbec wine and my memory is still reasonably> fresh, I'd
> like to share a few coments about the concert that Anthony Rooley> and Emma
> Kirkby gave here in Rio de Janeiro last Friday.> First of all, I was very
> excited to see two very famous specialists in early> music in a recital
> dedicated to English songs (Dowland, Campion and> Coprario). By coincidence
> my last concert was on English songs as well...> > The hall is fairly large
> one, 835 seats to be specific. However the> acoustics is wonderful, I've seen
> many great concerts there. But that night> only one third of the hall was
> full and I on purpose was seating on the 8th> row (about the middle of the
> theatre) just because I wanted to know how the> duo would deal with the sound
> projection in such a place. For a moment> before the concert I thought that
> it !
might be amplified... silly thought, it> wasn't.> > The concert began and they
made a very good visual impression, she was> dressed beautifully, perfect for
the ocasion while he was more discreet but> nevertheless good looking on stage.
Her singing was superb from the> beguinning of the concert to the end, hard to
describe how well sang: Her> gestures, phrasing, dynamics, interpretaion,
diction, knowledge of the> style, sensitivity, everything combined to deliver a
first class recital.> > Well, I was suposed to be talking about the lute!
Sorry...> > On the other hand, the lute sound was very, very, very small...
Anthony> joked before the second half explaining about the English lute song>
repertoire and especially the lute: "The smallest sounding instrument men> ever
built" (his words...), people laughed, unfortunately for a moment a> felt
myself as having "The smallest pXnXs in the world"...> In fact it was hard to
hear his (Anthony) playing and in the few ocasions> where !
he did solos, it was also painful to hear or to understand wha!
t he was
> doing. later I understood why.> > The second half I sat at the third row on
> the right side of the hall. I must> say it was better not only to see Emma's
> closely and wach her expressions> but also to hear the poor chap on the lute.
> Then I had a better idea of what> was going on. Apart from the size of the
> hall being not ideal for such a> performance, the lutenist was playing with
> guitar technique, not resting> the pinky on the soundboard and not plucking
> the strings properly (I mean,> using the technique described by Pat O'Brian
> as releasing the finger from> the string, which enhances the sound quite a
> bit), his hand was also jumping> every chord he played and finally there was
> no sight of thumb under or even> thumb over (as Nigel North) in the divisions
> and scales. It was not for free> that his overrall sound was very stacato and
> specially the divisions were> very non legato with his index middle
> alternation. My impression was simply> that he did not bring the sound effect!
ively from the instrument and in fact> everyone I knew in the concert
complained about it (I'm not that crazy...)> > After the recital I decided to
ask him a few questions. He said he was using> nylon strings and Pyramid
wounded basses. Well, at least now is very clear> why the sound was so dark on
the trebles besides of his faulty technique...> With PVF or even better Nylgut
(gut would be very tricky) the result could> have been a little better.> > This
kind of event makes me feel great by seing our instrument being exposed> to an
wider audience, but the general feeling according to most people that> I know
including musicians, that the lute is not apt to the concert> plataform, still
remains.> > Note - Coments welcomed!> > --> > > > > To get on or off this list
see list information at> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
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