Dear Anthony and All,
Please don't use me as a metronome! I haven't checked this particular
performance against a metronome, but I can confidently predict that it
will be seriously adrift of strict time. Whether it should be, of
course, is an interesting issue.
For years I never used a metronome, because the only one I had was a
wind-up mechanical one which sounded wrong to me and I never trusted
it. With the advent of the electronic variety, I started to experiment
and found it a very useful tool. If your score is on the computer, and
Fronimo can play it for you, that is also interesting.
Nearly ten years ago, I had a fun time preparing Newsidler's setting of
"Mille regretz" for performance: Fronimo demonstrated very clearly for
me what I had always known but not tested so thoroughly before - that
faced with a piece which has lots of slow notes, and lots of fast notes,
we play the slow notes too slowly and the fast notes too fast. This is
highly relevant to the English pavans, where we get a strain in
relatively slow notes, then a repetition with lots of fast notes. With
a piece like this in a dance form, I feel it is important to make the
basic rhythm - in this case a slow swinging two beats in the bar (think
of Lachrimae, Flow my tears, first beat accent on "flow", "tears", and
"springs") - clear, even if the basic tempo is rather slow. As long as
that basic rhythmic framework is clear, some flexibility within a bar is
not only allowed, but desirable.
A related issue is whether to allow a slight pause or easing of the
tempo at the end of each section - I feel it is often needed in pavans
(but not too drastic), but can be disastrous in fast galliards - witness
the many performances of "Can she excuse" where the singer dutifully
sings right to the end of the bar, then takes a breath, then starts the
next section, by which time we have an extra beat! The solution is to
sing for the first two beats, take a breath on the third beat, and come
in one the first beat of the next section.
A second issue which came out of my grappling with Newsidler is that of
which fast runs should be played strictly in time, and which might not -
there are several cases of written-out accelerations (as I see it) in
that piece. The same would probably apply to any elaborate intabulation
of a madrigal or chanson.
Just for the record - my text for the Cutting Pavan is based on Barley,
but not identical to Jan Burgers' edition, there being one place in
particular where I come to a different conclusion as to what Barley says.
Best wishes,
Martin
Anthony Hind wrote:
Thank you, Martin, once more for a delicate performance. Although I
have the excellent hard-bound Tree edition,
it is good to be able to swiftly access your PDF, on which it is
possible to note fingering.
Being of a slightly tense nature, I tend to speed up, while playing,
so following your "metronome" will be an excellent
exercise in keeping the rhythm stable.
Thanks
Anthony
Le 4 févr. 09 à 19:57, Martin Shepherd a écrit :
I wanted to redo the whole thing - but being tired and short of time
I opted to just record the B' section and slot it in. At least you
now have a complete piece....
Martin
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