{"id":3913,"date":"2015-12-29T09:15:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T13:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rockwellblake.com\/blog\/?p=3913"},"modified":"2015-12-29T10:07:28","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T14:07:28","slug":"dead-man-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/29\/dead-man-talking\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead Man Talking"},"content":{"rendered":"

My wife, Debbie, was ripping some old CDs that we have in our collection and, rather than twiddling her thumbs, she\u00a0started to read the liner notes while she waited for ITunes to\u00a0do that saving thing.\u00a0 When she got to this CD<\/a>, she forgot about ITunes and lost herself\u00a0in the notes.<\/p>\n

Horowitz wrote his own notes for this CD.\u00a0 Debbie put them on her scanner and\u00a0then\u00a0insisted I read them.<\/p>\n

Well, here I am cribbing from his notes.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t feel too bad about putting his words in my blog since DG recycled the same words in at least one other CD\/DVD<\/a> compilation.<\/p>\n

Vladimir Horowitz on performing:\"51IdvfgBAdL__SX425_\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Classical, Romantic, Modern, Neo-Romantic!<\/p>\n

These labels may be convenient for musicologists, but they have nothing to do with composing or performing.\u00a0 In fact, they may be more of a hindrance than a help in the education of young performers. \u00a0All music is the expression of feelings, and feelings do not change over the centuries.\u00a0 Style and form change, but not the basic human emotions. \u00a0Purists would have us believe that music from the so-called Classical period should be performed with emotional restraint, while so-called Romantic music should be played with emotional freedom.\u00a0 Such advice has often resulted in exaggeration, overindulgent, uncontrolled performances of Romantic music and dry, sterile, dull performances of Classical music.<\/p>\n

\"510lT2-F-yL__SY450_\"<\/a>As far as Mozart is concerned, we know from his letters that he showed great concern for musical expression: he continually criticized performers whose playing lacked freedom for their “mechanical execution” and the absence of \u201ctaste and feeling”.\u00a0 As for Beethoven, historical accounts describe his playing as very free and emotional \u2013 the trademark of a Romantic.<\/p>\n

All my life, ever since I was a young man, I have considered music of all periods romantic.\u00a0 There is, of course, an objective, intellectual component to music insofar as its formal structure is concerned; but when it comes to performance, what is required is not interpretation but a process of subjective re-creation.<\/p>\n

The notation of a composer is a mere skeleton that the performer must endow with flesh and blood, so that the music comes to life and speaks to an audience.\u00a0 The belief that going back to an Urtext<\/a> will ensure a convincing performance is an illusion. \u00a0An audience does not respond to intellectual concepts, only to the communication of feelings.<\/p>\n

A dictionary definition of ”romantic” usually includes the following: “Displaying or expressing love or strong affection; ardent, passionate, fervent.”\u00a0 I cannot name a single great composer of any period who did not possess these qualities.\u00a0 Isn’t, then, all music romantic? \u00a0And shouldn’t the performer listen to his heart rather than to intellectual concepts of how to play Classical, Romantic or any other style of music?<\/p>\n

Of course, mastery implies control – in music as well as in life. \u00a0But control that is creative does not limit or restrain feelings or spontaneity. \u00a0It is rather a setting of standards, limits and boundaries in regard to taste, style and what is appropriate to each composer. \u00a0In order to become a truly re-creative performer, and not merely an instrumental wizard, one needs three ingredients in equal measure: a trained, disciplined mind, full of imagination; a free and giving heart; and a Gradus ad Parnassum<\/a> command of instrumental skill. \u00a0Few musicians ever reach artistic heights with these three ingredients evenly balanced. \u00a0This is what I have been striving for all my life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Liner notes to \u201cHorowitz At Home<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Magic of Horowitz<\/a>\u201d published by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH.<\/p>\n

I have to thank Debbie for looking beneath the cover and finding these jewels of thought and musical wisdom.<\/p>\n

Horowitz is now one more dead white guy<\/a> among many, but I think we are forced to overlook that post-modern epithet, because his recordings stand as brilliant testimony that he knows what he is talking about.\u00a0 Well \u201cforced\u201d is a little strong.\u00a0 Nobody can be forced to purchase the recordings that put flesh on the bones that are the words of his liner notes.\u00a0 By banning his artistry from your ears, you can feel safe believing Horowitz to be just another white guy shilling for White hegemony. \"t8uadeb8gvuiqehwoiqh\"<\/a>\u00a0Move away from the \u201cH\u201d bin<\/a> at Tower Records.\u00a0 OH!\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry\u2026\u2026\u00a0 Like,,, it\u2019s so yesterday<\/a>.\u00a0 Tower Records closed its last door in 2006.\u00a0 There is no \u201cH\u201d bin because there is no Tower Records in which you can avoid it.\u00a0 I\u2019m so sheltered here in Plattsburgh that I didn\u2019t even notice it went belly-up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Horowitz figured it out.\u00a0 Horowitz walked the walk of his talk<\/a>, and I tell my students to listen to his recordings for hints on how to shape vocal lines.\u00a0 His recordings have yet to stop surprising me with interesting turns of phrase that I missed in the many previous plays I have enjoyed.\u00a0 I share his dedication to the proposition that audiences want performers to communicate feelings.\u00a0 Garcia surely believed the same thing.<\/p>\n

I just sent out the last of my editing work on the Garcia translation I have been editing.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s up to Donald Paschke, the translator, to check my efforts give his approval or send me corrections.\u00a0 The pages of this publication are Garcia\u2019s \u201cGradus ad Parnassum<\/em>\u201d guide to singing: A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part One<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the start of the New Year, I will begin editing Paschke\u2019s translation of Part Two.\u00a0 That second book is full of guidance for just how to engage in the sort of artistic endeavor Vladimir called \u201csubjective re-creation\u201d.\u00a0 It is a guide that young people really need.\u00a0 It has everything a singer needs to know about performing, and I am going to get it back in print.\u00a0 Garcia and Horowitz spoke the same musical language.\u00a0 Garcia Sr. was the best tenor. Garcia Jr. taught the best singers.\u00a0 Horowitz was the best pianist.\u00a0 All of them, just dead white guys.\u00a0 Who am I?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m not dead yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My wife, Debbie, was ripping some old CDs that we have in our collection and, rather than twiddling her thumbs, she\u00a0started to read the liner notes while she waited for ITunes to\u00a0do that saving thing.\u00a0 When she got to this CD, she forgot about ITunes and lost herself\u00a0in the notes. Horowitz wrote his own notes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,53,85,51,50],"tags":[313,315,314,309,312,316],"class_list":["post-3913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-garcia","category-opera","category-singing","category-teaching","tag-cd","tag-classical","tag-dvd","tag-garcia","tag-horowitz","tag-romantic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Dead-Man-Talking-banner-1.jpg?fit=315%2C143&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2kj1l-117","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3913"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3936,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913\/revisions\/3936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}