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I read a book on Tin Pan Alley this year, and the author spent a while explaining how Sinatra loved Heifetz's phrasing (lots of notes per bow) and tried to emulate it in his singing, so he owned every recording Heifetz ever made. Yeah, I got enthused and clicked some value-for-money things on Amazon and ended up with a 4-disc boxset of Heifetz playing concerti and a 9 disc box set of him playing Beethoven. Err, yeah, I haven't listened to much of that one yet! 9 discs is overkill.
Normally I don't compare artists - I just want music on in the background, so I find an artist I like and stick with them. But Beethoven's Spring Sonata is interesting - Menuhin (afaicr) seems to play it very slowly, and Heifetz (afaicr) plays it at twice M's speed (slight exaggeration)! I think I'll aim for somewhere between the two when I start on it next summer. (I wrote the two speeds down on my sheet music. When I can find it, I'll put them here)
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It is interesting the different takes musicians have on the same piece, even classical. I always thought that classical was only played at the same tempo very strictly. I didn’t think it had the freedom as other genres. Gave me the impression it was stuffy. Since then, I have noticed nuances in the classical when I have searched for songs we are doing in lessons. So, now, like all genres, there is some I like, and some I don’t. The exception is jazz, complete distaste for that.
We are working on Vocalise by Rachmaninoff in my cello lessons. It is song without words. Meant to be vocal only, but cellists loved it and took it to their instruments. I think it has migrated to violinists now because I found a video of it. Vocalise really needs the fullness of the cello or voice, though.
Anyway, i noticed in one video that it was played faster than the other versions. We are doing it slow, like Anna Manoff did it (video link is in my post in the cello section). The faster version just loses all of it sentiment and feeling, even with the dynamics.
I bought a CD of Yo Yo Ma (spelling? I always misspell it) playing song we were doing. The Bache Suite maybe. I was not impressed with his version, as opposed to a YouTube I found of someone else playing it. It was nice, but his interpretation was not as good.
I never ever, in a million years thought I would ever like anything classical due to my preconceptions of classical music.
By the way, I have a ton of CD’s because I love to listen to music. My kids keep telling me to stop buying CD’s and just stream or something. I don’t want to have to connect to the internet to listen to music in my sewing room, kitchen, etc. I want to select the CD’s I want to put into my 5 CD disc player. Do you know how long it took me to switch from 33 1/2 albums to CD’s? Streaming won’t happen.
Liked you post, Alf. Made me think about my change in attitude about classical music.
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cid said
I always thought that classical was only played at the same tempo very strictly. I didn’t think it had the freedom as other genres.
Originally there was just andante or allegro or whatever, no metronome markings. Modern metronome markings are just one editor's suggestion.
As it happens, the Spring sonata starts allegro, and all that means is merry or bright, and that isn't strict in intention, just a mood setter.
Menuhin plays crotchet (quarter note) = 116 (which I find too ponderous); Heifetz plays crotchet = 138, which may be right, but it would be too fast for me to achieve for a while, lol!
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On the topic of classical tempo markings: one of my conductors has opined several times that a tempo marking is a mood, not a speed.
If you think about classical music in general, it can't possibly be that strict because we've only had recording technology for about a hundred years and the language of printed music is not very precise for anything other than notes and rhythms. For most of music history, composers wouldn't have been able to give performers anything to follow strictly.
By the way, one of my most interesting performing experiences was about a year ago, when both of my orchestras were playing Beethoven's 8th at about the same time -- they performed just two weeks apart, in almost diametrically opposite interpretations. For the four weeks that rehearsal schedules overlapped, I was going back and forth between one orchestra that played at the fast end of the spectrum of recorded tempos (e.g. half note = 74 in the last movement) and one that played at the slow end of the spectrum (half note = 62 in the last movement). Bowings and articulations, and even the amounts and types of vibrato the conductors wanted, were different too.
That would have been me.
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