By Geoffrey Dean
Reading the description of the new “Outside the Box” column while listening to Franz Schubert’s Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano, I remembered my own dismay when studying this piece at what I took as Schubert’s inconsistencies. My “inside the box” thinking at the time was to try to minimize the variations in intervals, dynamics, articulation, rhythm found in Schubert’s score – to move toward standardization, so that each appearance of a given musical gesture would resemble every other as closely as possible. In pursuing this standardizing impulse, I was unwittingly following the example of a long line of music editors who had purged Schubert’s (and others’) works of their native quirkiness, putting them back into the box of one-size-fits-all creative expression as they confined them to the narrowly drawn parameters of “tasteful” interpretation.
I invite you to explore some of the many versions of Schubert’s sonata. Let me know your favorites!
Cello: Rostropovich/Britten (audio only)
Flute: Galway (live, video)
Bass: Božo Paradžik (live, video)
Euphonium: Warden (audio only)
Arpeggione: Deletaille/Roudier (video) – finally, as performed on the instrument it was actually written for!
Here’s a good website for more detailed information about the instrument and the sonata: “Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata Revisited.”
| Copyright © 2016 by Geoffrey Dean |
You are certainly a honest student of the pure intent in music by the creator of it. I applaud you, Geoffrey. Well done!
ReplyDeleteWhoever would have thought there are MUSICAL boxes we can confine ourselves in? Geoffrey Dean identifies one - and provides examples of the joy of getting outside the box.
ReplyDeleteBut to answer your question - I like Bass: Božo Paradžik (live, video), the best. Personally, you can't beat the depth and warmth of a bass cello. But then again I sing bass in choirs. My second favorite was the horn of Dave Werden. For similar reasons but perhaps with more "attitude". Thanks so much for sharing these examples.
ReplyDeleteWhat glorious music for an early evening, looking out onto the darkening garden, with lingering traces of memory of carrying the bird feeder into the house after dinner and discovering that a young finch had ridden in with it, and taking the feeder out to let it fly home. The Rostropovich so dynamically tranquil in the master's command of the MUSIC, Mr. Galway hurried and impatient, Božo so captivating I never wondered how much longer he would go on (although I did wonder how hard the performance might be on his back), the euphonium rich as a whole chamber orchestra, the arpeggiome clear but at a disadvantage against the cello and the bass. Thank you, Geoffrey!
ReplyDeleteGreat article highlighting an important realm of musical interpretation: ostensible inconsistencies in scores which may actually be a gateway to expanded and heightened musical expression.
ReplyDelete