Re: Re: Re: Re: Bach, the composer


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Posted by Steve C on April 07, 2001 at 01:25:54:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Bach, the composer posted by DCastillo on April 06, 2001 at 23:58:33:

To expand here, baroque music is not one to be played literally. They are meant to be personalized by the players.
If you were to play them literally as (originally) written, of course they won't make sense. No written phrases, articulation, dynamics, and many cases no tempo markings.
Take the before mentioned Cello suites, if they were to be played at 100 beats/minute with no phrasing or dynamic contrast (100% as notated by Bach), of course its boring. Now, as a musician, YOU decide where a phrase is, what the tempo should be, and how the line should move.
The recording I have a Yo-Yo Ma makes them beautiful, and come to life.
And as for "mathematical", all music can be this way. At rehearsal last night, we were working on Frank's Symphony in Dm, the strings weren't getting the parts right, our conductor was telling them to put the notes MATHEMATICALLY where they should be. In high school, we played Hindemith's Bb Symphony for band. The conductor was constantly stating that Hindemith must have been a Mathematical Guineas to get the figures to line up the way they did (I still do NOT like Hindemith's work)

Wow.... that's kind of a ramble...
Steve C


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