On 5 May 2011 15:21, Gilbert Isbin <[email protected]> wrote: > Why should a modern voicing sound ugly on a lute. Play Dm11 for instance. > Not bad. Gm13/D . What's wrong with it ? Sounds very beautiful to me. > > Why shouldn't it be possible to integrate lute techniques in modern lute > compositions? Try C9sus4 followed by a bass line, or a single note run on > the top voice, or in the middle voice. Sounds pretty ok to me.
I think Ron can answer for himself, but as he was merely asking the questions in his blog-post, I suppose it's all-right to chime in. I play and see a lot of modern music written for lute, both as lutenist-for-hire and as editor of the news letter of a lute society. But, not all of this uses the specific qualities of the lute to the full. It's great if new possibilities and techniques are explored, but all too often I find guitar parts: full chords with impossible fingerings and demands on sustain - and ensemble balance! - that are not lute-like. And, perhaps a private peeve, all too often the music is clearly written with overspun basses in the ear (or even hands) of the composers; for me a lute is an instrument with gut strings. Anyway, different subject. The point is that it's not always clear to me why the music I am playing is given to a lute, instead of a guitar or a piano. Too much Villa-Lobos (whose music is fabulous on guitar, don't get me wrong) where I would like to find Da Milano, Dowland or Weiss. Not their musical language, but their use of the instrument: sustain, inner balance, dynamics, playability, effectiveness. Having said that, and it did sound like a complaint, I'm sorry about that, I do find it is wonderful people are actually writing for the lute. So please, continue, the good pieces will survive and through the accumulated experience better pieces will be written and composers will improve. Perhaps the answer is in the nature of the instrument. In olden times the really great composers for our instrument were the really great players. How is it today, who is writing for lutes, are they the really great players? And the really great composers, do they understand our instrument, really? Benjamin Britten's lute song is a good example where composer and player worked together to make something that is effective on lute. And, irony, that piece is usually played on guitar! David -- ******************************* David van Ooijen [email protected] www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
