Dear David
I have problems with analyses that take apart the
playing of a person on one occasion. Especially, in the case of a
lutist who began playing in a completely different context from ours,
I prefer to try to see how his technique may show the way playing has
tended to evolve.
Criticizing Anthony Rooley for playing too quietly, might be like
criticizing Julian Bream for playing too loud. His technique is also
a snap-shot of how lute playing has developed, and could be cherished
as such, even if few of us want to go back to this.
I hope that does not sound too patronizing (I suppose it does).The
same would surely be true to a different extent of J.B..
Yes, I probably do talk too much, as you implied, but that generally
comes from the fact that I am being cautious, and want people to
fully understand on what I am basing my discussion. This is probably
a professional defect coming from my time in research writing in
Phonetics. It may look as though I am being dogmatic, but I always
see the many sides to the same question, and have to find ways of
systematically eliminating some of the possibilities, or else I
couldnt write at all.
Of course we all, vary in our playing over time ; however, that does
not necessarily imply that there have not been phases (or tendencies)
in the development of the present state of lute playing.
I hope I was not too long-winded. Thank you if you have had the
patience to read to the end
Regards
Anthony
Le 25 sept. 07 à 00:52, David Rastall a écrit :
> Dear Anthony,
>
> As you are a man of so few words, perhaps you can explain, in 25
> screens or less, just what is "the present state of lute playing"?
>
> My reason for asking is this: I have seen many changes in my own
> playing over the last five years or more. But as I don't promote
> myself at all, and am quite content to play in virtual isolation
> (aside from occasional activities as a performing member in a local
> Washington DC music society, most of whom regard the lute as a
> novelty and know very little about it), I wonder at times whether the
> changes in my own playing are reflective of general changes in the
> lute world, or maybe the early-music world in general.
>
> Very interested to hear your ideas on this.
>
> Regards,
>
> David R
>
>
> On Sep 24, 2007, at 3:45 PM, Anthony Hind wrote:
>
>> Dear Bruno and Andronico
>> I think there may be phases in "historical" music in which players
>> reject what went before, partly for reasons of greater authenticity,
>> but not only, so.
>> Following a period in which pioneering musicians played with modern
>> techniques on "modern heavy high tension stringed" instruments (this
>> would seem true for the lute, with Julian Bream, but also the
>> harpsichord with Wanda Landowska, or even Badura Skoda on the piano
>> forte), the "new" musicians with their lighter more "authentic"
>> instruments, just could not play at equivalent volumes, and in any
>> case in contrast, began to investigate the quieter and more subtle
>> sound areas, that their predecessors could never have hoped to reach.
>>
>> I well remember the shock of hearing the quietness of my teacher in
>> the 70s, after having been attracted to Renaissance music by Julian
>> Bream. I then, became a fervent convert to this new style (all except
>> for the very narrow dynamic of his playing. I did feel that
>> Renaissance players, must have been able to project more; but my
>> teacher was in strong contrast to what had gone before. He just
>> wanted a refined subtleness).
>>
>> Perhaps we have gone past this phase. A number of lutists on our list
>> have mentioned the quietness of Hoppy's playing (who is also of that
>> earlier generation of quieter subtle players). Personally, I find
>> Hoppy, very musical, However, I think we may again be in a moment,
>> where players may be rejecting the styles of their forerunners. The
>> necessity for many to play continuo has brought them to use carbon
>> strings and to give up some subtlety for more projection. Other
>> players, like Jacob Heringman are researching a right hand technique,
>> that even with gut strings, allows them to project beyond the narrow
>> zone between silence and just above a whisper, that a Hoppy occupies
>> so beautifully.
>> (I am a little sad that Hoppy left gut aside, as I had found that
>> within this quieter more subtle area, gut can allow even more subtle
>> shades of sound. However, I did stop playing before the carbon
>> revolution, so I might be rather a fossil.)
>>
>> Nevertheless, I well remember the role that Anthony Rooley played
>> around the 70s. The Dowland LP set that he presided brought together
>> so many of these newer younger players. He was perhaps an essential
>> step in between Julian Bream and these younger players (as perhaps
>> was Robert Spencer). Those of us who remember those exciting
>> pioneering days, feel we owe so much to him. He is also such a warm
>> spontaneous person engaging so naturally and enthusiastically in
>> discussion with his audience,and with such little pretension (the
>> same goes here for Emma).
>>
>> I imagine Bruno, is perhaps in the initial state of shock that I was
>> in, when I first heard my teacher in the 70s. Almost simultaneously,
>> I became the strongest supporter of little finger on the table,
>> perhaps to convince myself, I was making the right commitment. Later,
>> I was so glad to adopt gut, at least if I had lost the projection of
>> a Julian Bream, I had found a string that "spoke", but alright I
>> won't "harp-on" about it.
>>
>> To be fair to Bruno, has just been hearing other players on the list
>> imply that Hoppy was playing too quietly. I won't go so far as to say
>> that Bruno is telling us about the king's non-existent clothes; but
>> as he may not not be aware of the history behind the present state of
>> lute playing, he may not understand how it is alright to mention
>> Hoppy's quiet playing, while criticizing the playing of such a key-
>> player in the lute's renewed history, as Anthony Rooley, may somehow
>> be more shocking.
>> regards
>> Anthony
>>
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