Friday Miscellanea

The story is that classical musicians are afraid to, or forbidden to, improvise in performance. While there is certainly some truth in that, it is actually a bit more complicated. Through the 19th century the concept of the musical "work" became more central and along with that, the sacralization of the "score," the realization of the work. In the presence of a great musical work, the "Hammerklavier" Sonata by Beethoven, for example, what pianist would have the temerity to throw in a few improvisations?

But alongside this are a number of older traditions. In early music performance, for example, the improvisation of ornaments and rhythmic alternations is not only common, but encouraged. And we have a recent recording that takes that tradition up to the time of Mozart's piano concertos: A Pianist Who’s Not Afraid to Improvise on Mozart

“When Mozart wrote his concertos, they were a vehicle for his skills,” the pianist and scholar Robert Levin said by telephone from Salzburg, Austria — Mozart’s hometown — where he teaches at the Mozarteum University. “He was respected as a composer and lionized as a performer, but it was as an improviser that he was on top of the heap.”

Levin, 76, has long argued that Mozart, as a player, made up new cadenzas and ornaments in the moment. And he has sought to revive that spirit of improvisation in a landmark cycle of the concertos on period instruments, a 13-album project begun more than 30 years ago with the Academy of Ancient Music, led by Christopher Hogwood.

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 On An Overgrown Path gives us a few things to think about: Tribalism is ruining classical music. After trashing Slipped Disc, for, well, being trashy he goes on:

There are many other well-meaning but nevertheless damaging examples of tribalism in classical music. Some time back Proms audiences were cited as the best in the world. Today attending a BBC Prom is like attending a football match. The tribe of fans cheer on the home team - the performers - at every opportunity. It doesn't matter if the home team musicians are playing well, averagely, or just plain badly; the fans cheers them anyway, usually between movements. While over at BBC Radio 3 the once-respected network has committed harakiri in a futile battle for the Classic FM tribe.  

These are just a few examples of tribalism based on the prevailing erroneous assumption by classical brand marketeers that their target audience is a homogeneous tribe of affluent young people who have the attention span of gnats and turn into pumpkins if they are parted from their mobile phone for more than two minutes. This is just nonsense: there is no single mass market tribe for classical music. The classical audience always has been and will always continue to be a granular group of individuals with differing but overlapping tastes.

On the plus side he says that there is very little they can do to damage the product:

The transcendental genius of Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and their peers across the ages

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Wishful thinking at the New York Times: Opera Doesn’t Have to Be an Elite Art Form. Here’s Why.

Thinking about opera as burying or at least challenging the status quo may seem antithetical to its nature. Yet opera always fares best when it goes against the grain: flaunting resistance to the beauty standards erected by mass media; fitting uneasily, if at all, with the rapid demands of the attention economy; feeling completely out of place with how we consume other art.

For every composer affirming authority in their work, opera’s history offers counterexamples: creators so committed to establishing a new world order in sound that they resisted all conventions and invented their own instruments, their own ensembles or their own theaters. Opera often appears to ratify the reigning ideology, but the art form is most exciting and viable when it is a subversive act.

Well sure, but the reason it has to be supported by an elite is that opera is the most fantastically expensive art-form ever.

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We haven't had a laugh at scientism lately: Scientists observe a remarkable synchronization effect among classical music listeners

Picture yourself at a classical music concert, enveloped by the sweeping melodies of Beethoven or Brahms. As you listen, you may not realize that your heart rate and breathing are subtly syncing with those of the people around you. A new study has shown that the shared experience of live music creates a remarkable physiological bond among audience members, revealing the profound impact of music on the human body. The research has been published in Scientific Reports.

However:

However, the timing of inhalations and exhalations did not show significant synchronization, suggesting that while the music had a powerful effect on the audience’s overall physiological state, it did not induce the kind of precise, rhythmic breathing often seen in activities like singing or chanting. “We found repeatedly that respiration rate becomes synchronized, but not the breathing-in and breathing-out,” Tschacher said. 

Interestingly, the study also revealed that different types of listening experiences were associated with different levels of synchrony. For example, participants who reported being emotionally moved by the music were less synchronized with the rest of the audience. On the other hand, those who focused on the structure of the music—such as its melodies, rhythm, and harmony—or who paid close attention to the sounds of individual instruments, showed higher levels of synchrony.

So, not much in the way of actual results. Coincidentally, I did a little research of my own during a number of concerts at Salzburg. I know that I tend to physically respond while listening to music even though I try to minimize it during concerts so as not to disturb my neighbors. Some of it consists in mild nodding in time, movements of my hands in sympathy. Sometimes it is akin to the movements of a passenger's feet while in a car driven by someone not entirely in control--you know those times where you search for a brake pedal! So I often feel, especially in piano and guitar concerts, as if I do have a physical participation. So, during the Salzburg concerts I repeatedly surveyed the other audience members to see if I could discern anyone else also making physical responses. I looked at hundreds of people and didn't notice anything. The only people making these kinds of physical movements were the performers. I guess I'm weird.

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HONG KONG CHINESE ORCHESTRA COMBINES TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTS WITH AN INTERNATIONAL SOUND

While at first glance a Chinese orchestra may look similar to a Western orchestra, they are different as chalk and cheese. The string make-up (‘Huqins’ in Chinese orchestras)  comprises the Eco-Gaohu (they look like bowed banjos), the Eco-Zhonghu; the Eco-Erhu, the Eco-Gehu and the Eco-Bass Gehu. Musicians play specially manufactured Eco-Huqins (the Gaohu, Zhonghu, Erhu, Gehu and Bass-Gehu are created without the traditional python skin) which have been in use by the HKCO since 2009, while the bright sound of Chinese woodwind instruments and brass invokes ancient Oriental ceremony. Celina Chin (Celina Chin Man Wah), executive director at HKCO, explains: ‘It dates back to the Chou (Zhou) and Tang dynasties, there was already a very big orchestra, nearly 1,000 people, especially for the King.’ For Chin, the HKCO sound is ‘just like a cosmopolitan image of Hong Kong; the instruments are traditional Chinese, but the sound is international.’

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I got an email this week: COMPOSERS CRY FOUL AS THEIR NOTATION SOFTWARE IS STOPPED

 There will be no further updates to Finale, or any of its associated tools (PrintMusic, Notepad, Songwriter)

– It is no longer possible to purchase or upgrade Finale in the MakeMusic eStore

– Finale will continue to work on devices where it is currently installed (barring OS changes)

– After one year, beginning August 2025, these changes will go into effect:

– It will not be possible to authorize Finale on any new devices, or reauthorize Finale

– Support for Finale v27 or any other version of Finale will no longer be available.

For a limited time, users of any version of Finale or PrintMusic can purchase Dorico Pro for just $149 (retail price $579).

I don't know anything about Dorico Pro, but I guess I will give it a try. I have spent over 25 years learning how to use Finale, but I guess I can simply continue to use it on my current devices.

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 Let's start with Robert Levin and Mozart:

Here is the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra:

My favorite Beethoven piano concertos are Friedrich Guida with the Vienna Philharmonic, but this is pretty good too: