Dear David
Perhaps, your experience shows that my view has been too strongly
coloured by the lutists who have most effected my sensitivity to the
lute at key moments. Julian Bream (who first interested me in the
lute), then my teacher and Hoppy, who I saw and heard a number of
times (to a certain extent Anthony Bailes and POD, but more in the
back ground), and more recently I have been strongly effected by the
playing of Jacob Heringman.
I have understood this, largely in relation to those very dynamic
discussions in the Early Music magazine that I cited.
You are right; there are still " two schools of thought: one that
advocates modernistic versions of lutes and lute playing, to render
the lute compatible with today's requirements for music-making; and
the other that advocates going back into history to find out from the
"old ones" how to do it better." However, I felt this was the result
of turning a spiral, if not a circle.
Also, it just happens that most of the lutists that I meet in France
today are strongly in the first camp, mostly using carbon strings,
others occaisonally nylgut. Most laugh out loud when you mention gut
strings. A few, however, do recall the pioneering days when they
rolled their own gut strings, and perhaps understandably were
relieved when nylgut first appeared.
I have really enjoyed Hoppy's almost silent performances, which place
him clearly outside those who cater to the public taste.
Nevertheless, it was such a relief when I heard Jacob Heringman at
Caen. At last, the technique that I always thought must have once
existed, and gut strings that really projected well beyond the tenth
row of a largish theatre. It is not however, that Jacob is in the
"catering to the public" camp. His choice of polyphonic Italian music
to the exclusion of any dance music, was severely criticised by
lutists of that school who happened to be present.
I don't think I am elitist, but I really did enjoy the cerebral
pleasure of following the twists and turns of the intertwining
threads of this music, but I also do like some contemporary music for
a similar reason. Nevertheless, it was Jacob's projection that
allowed these twists to be followed.
Personally, I can take pleasure in both styles (Jacob or Hoppy) and I
have enjoyed the wonderful performance of Anthony Rooley, Emma, and
group at the Musee Grevin (the Paris wax-works museum!) No it is not
a joke. It really was the Paris wax-works museum; and I heard Rooley
and Emma, twice there, as well as Hoppy, and I think only once POD.
The warmth and humour of Rooley and Emma's Dowland and Purcell
perfomance was exceptional music, but also theatre; though, I do seem
to hear them in a completely different reference frame-work from that
of Jacob or Hoppy (more in the Spencer Deller tradition, but they did
not quite have the Emma humour, just her sublime); and I am glad that
these different facettes exist.
Incidentally, there was a film about Emma on the English television
this summer, and Anthony Rooley can be seen, if any one wants to
study his technique. It is easy to see that he does not use the
little finger on the soundboard.
I feel that many playing styles and atttitudes to music can and
perhaps should coexist. Every style is likely to appear slightly
dated in a matter of years. Just listen back to the remarkable
Dowland LP presided by Rooley, and it will become obvious, for all
those players.
They all play so much better than I do, that I find it very hard to
criticise. I can only judge comparatively, and not in any kind of
absolute manner.
Thanks for you attention
Regards
Anthony
Le 25 sept. 07 =E0 18:44, David Rastall a ecrit :
> Dear Anthony,
>
> Please don't be put off by my remarks. They're harmless, believe
> me. Behind the flippant tone really was a serious question and
> your replies, and those of the others who have commented on the
> current state of lute playing, have been very enlightening.
>
> I came to the lute in 1979, and by that time some of the revivalist
> spirit had begun to wane. Bream was still out there, as were all
> the other revival figures. To me in those days, the "pioneers"
> were Robert Spencer, Diana Poulton, Walter Gerwig, Suzanne Bloch,
> Dolmetsch, Bream etc., although Bream had always been a bit of a
> maverick who tended to "fall through the cracks" any time anyone
> tried to fit him into the lute or guitar world of that time. I too
> have lots of old "snapshots" i.e. LP records, which I listen to
> from time to time.
>
> I stayed with the lute until the mid-80's, then dropped out for
> about 10 years; but the point is that when I came back to it again
> in the mid 90's it seemed to me that nothing had changed at all!
> It all felt the same! Everyone was still talking about the same
> stuff, playing the same stuff, attending the same kinds of seminar
> workshop-weeks etc. Perhaps that was the time when the "post-
> revivalists" were just beginning to gain wide recognition.
>
> I still think that quietness in music is a function of the
> temperament of the person playing it. From what I have understood
> from this current thread, if there has been some kind of sea-change
> in lute playing, it's that lutenists are less introspective than in
> the old days when everyone was so concerned with "re-inventing the
> wheel." There still seem to be the two schools of thought: one
> that advocates modernistic versions of lutes and lute playing, to
> render the lute compatible with today's requirements for music-
> making; and the other that advocates going back into history to
> find out from the "old ones" how to do it better.
>
> Regards,
>
> David R
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
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