tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post7690406014019000956..comments2023-12-13T09:57:57.427+00:00Comments on Fatal Conclusions: WNO Tristan; Volodos at the RFHHugo Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07317066207576444971noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-12880094499256481802012-05-23T22:15:58.518+01:002012-05-23T22:15:58.518+01:00I like to feel with music that the piece has an in...I like to feel with music that the piece has an inevitable climax - even something like the Liszt which is a quiet note (followed by a bellowed "Bravo").<br /><br /> However your point is entirely taken - so far everyone I know who has an opinion on the concert have split 50-50 on it (sample of 6).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-71858940679648102632012-05-23T12:40:49.408+01:002012-05-23T12:40:49.408+01:00The thing about structure is that it's stagger...The thing about structure is that it's staggeringly subjective. The Brendels of the world might have you believe that it's all about keeping things tightly restricted, but is it? Liszt invented thematic TRANSFORMATION- not thematic monotony. Who decided that the only acceptable approach is to focus on keeping things samey- rather than to focus on highlighting the emotional differentiation of progressive variations on the initial material?Andrew Thayerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18154451592493415157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-59977661017277543992012-05-23T11:48:38.631+01:002012-05-23T11:48:38.631+01:00I think Andrew is getting his knickers in a twist ...I think Andrew is getting his knickers in a twist about "voicing" here. The point surely is that whilst Volodos played beautifully and each chord and phrase was exquisitely measured, it did not seem to contribute to the structure. Each and every piece in the recital suffered from a lack of overarching structural vision.<br /><br />I must also agree with yours and Steve's comment - my companions both felt that the rubato was within the bounds of good taste - I did not and it marred the sonata for me.<br /><br />As for the young lady who's alarm wen off at the wrong moment - to coin a phrase, she should be taken out and shot... in front of her family.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-75611644338676132402012-05-23T11:37:49.176+01:002012-05-23T11:37:49.176+01:00So, alluding to the absence of a "greater pur...So, alluding to the absence of a "greater purpose" is supposed to display something more rational than to say "I didn't like it"? Sounds rather more like the kind of expression I'd expect from a religious cult leader (shortly before he starts passing the guns out to his flock) than from an intellectual- especially when no attempt is made at objectification of what that purpose might be. Such language merely provides a self-congratulatory allusion to the belief of having special insights from which to be critical with authority. However, when the language fails to divulge anything even faintly resembling an accountable basis for criticism, it is merely a dressed-up version of "I didn't like it"- not a rational foundation for authoritative criticism. <br /><br />The purpose of employing "exquisite measuring" of voicing is to avoid throwing around randomly voiced chords (hence the baffling self-contradiction in your having spoken of his supposed absence of purpose in mind) and to make the piano sound interesting, as opposed to monontonously percussive. Is that not an adequate musical purpose to measure voicing exquisitely? Anyway, I'm glad that you now acknowledge that Volodos voices his chords with a purpose. But are you going to divulge this "greater purpose" that YOU hoped to be served- or were you just casually throwing language around without "greater purpose"?Andrew Thayerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18154451592493415157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-86105462126143605782012-05-23T10:48:40.889+01:002012-05-23T10:48:40.889+01:00Forgot to say - do you know what the second encore...Forgot to say - do you know what the second encore was? It sounded Russian but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06395434331295144535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-37519940516961627462012-05-23T10:46:18.973+01:002012-05-23T10:46:18.973+01:00Hugo
Thanks for your review. I was at the concert ...Hugo<br />Thanks for your review. I was at the concert last night too and I agree with pretty much everything you say. In particular, I was a bit taken aback by what I thought was unconvincing rubato in parts of the Liszt.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06395434331295144535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-48895300695465514652012-05-23T07:46:31.057+01:002012-05-23T07:46:31.057+01:00Andrew. Thanks for your comment. I've made a v...Andrew. Thanks for your comment. I've made a very minor revision to the sentence you refer to, not to revise my judgement but to make it clearer that it is 'my' judgement. As you say, I'm in no position to judge whether or not Volodos actually had a purpose in mind; I am sure a pianist of his immense skill definitely will have done. It was just not clear to me what the purpose of some of Volodos's interpretative decisions was supposed to be. I'm well aware of what the purpose of voicing is, but shouldn't it be part of a wider interpretative strategy, rather than simply serving to relieve monotony? <br /><br />I stand by my own reaction, however, and assert that it's important, still, to be able to express that reaction in terms that try to rationalise and explain it -- beyond 'I didn't like it' -- which, after all, is what criticism is all about.Hugo Shirleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07317066207576444971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-72971718063767895122012-05-23T01:31:08.534+01:002012-05-23T01:31:08.534+01:00So, what "purpose" were you expecting fr...So, what "purpose" were you expecting from the voicing, please? If you must criticise upon such a staggeringly vague and ill-defined premise, why don't you divulge to us what "purpose" ought have been served (assuming that you weren't just spouting the pretentiously vapid pseudo-intellectual bilge, that we come to expect from concert reviewers).<br /><br />The traditional "purpose" of voicing is to avoid sounding like a monotonously programmed (and thoroughly anti-musical) MIDI file. Perhaps you would have preferred that- seeing as you have all but declared yourself incapable of grasping what "purpose" might be served by acts of "exquisitely measured" voicing? The purpose happens to be called music, traditionally speaking. If you happened not to like the specific interpretative decisions, it does not therefore follow that there was no sense of purpose to them. Was the "exquisite measuring" was an exquisitely measured accident- seeing as you are so sure it not born out of having a purpose in mind? You see no evident paradox in your language?<br /><br />At least it's honest when someone just says "I didn't like it", rather than rattling off a few hundred words of vaguery.Andrew Thayerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18154451592493415157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6135235294360336408.post-57657448097458544252012-05-23T01:25:27.586+01:002012-05-23T01:25:27.586+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Andrew Thayerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18154451592493415157noreply@blogger.com