On Mar 12, 2010, at 10:39 AM, Ron Andrico wrote:
Hello Howard & All:
I have to say that contrapuntal lines CAN actually connect at a
tempo
slower than today's espresso-driven pace if the player can relax and
resist the urge to push.
This is an important point along w/ Howard's
"But the problem isn't the listener's ability to hear the lines; it's
the player's ability to play them as if they were distinct polyphonic
lines instead of intervals and chords with stuff in between. "
I've been working on some Borrono and Paladin intabulations lately and
it's all wonderfully rhythmical but to give it that rhythmic power
requires a lot of stamina in the left hand. The breakthrough for me
came when I highlighted the vocal lines and played them as though a
voice were singing them. It slows me down, allows the voices to speak
and I can enjoy what is happening all the more. They may eventually
regain some of their vocal speed but if they don't I won't worry.
Jannequin probably laughed off any lutenists seriously trying to play
his program chansons anyway. It didn't stop Paladin, Francesco, LeRoy
and Borrono from trying.
Francesco and his contemporaries must have understood that their
purchasers had varying abilities and would play them back at varying
tempoes [sp?]. Recall that the backbone of this composed music
(fantasies/ricercars and chansons) is polyphony not rhythmical drive.
Bring out that backbone and you have the essence of their music.
Of course one shouldn't play those light, love "wink wink" chansons as
somber motets but there are ways to lighten your touch and phrasing to
give it the illusion of light-heartedness w/out (before) advancing the
tempo. This, btw, is an dimension of chanson intabulation that the
fantasies lack, namely, for you, the lutenist, to give it the ideas
expressed in the poem. One more complexity of the music but one that
gives you a direction in your strategy of interpretation.
my 1 cent w/ a nickel from R & H.
Sean
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