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In Reply to: RE: A word of disagreement about FWM posted by pbarach on September 14, 2014 at 06:25:36
I just heard Most/Cleveland perform R. Strauss "Don Juan", broadcast from Miami.... It was an excellent performance..... Didn't sound much different from Szell's studio performance (the best "Don Juan" to make recording), save for the "snap" and "explosiveness".....
I'll be blunt here: My main complaint about the recent Cleveland Orchestra is that the wind and brass sections tend to "ease in" to the notes instead of attack them. (The strings also do this, but it's most-noticeable in the winds and brass.) It's as if they're trying too hard to avoid playing wrong notes. I heard it in the "Don Juan", but it wasn't a real problem with this particular work. (Unlike the Szell and Maazel studio performances, there were no wrong notes in this live performance.) The problem is such playing really kills the melodic and background "lines". And the result is a bunch of notes played instead of communicated and interwoven melodies and harmonies. Everything just turns to "mush"..... Such playing also kills the "dynamic drive" called for in the music. Kind of makes the presentation seem "docile" or "boring" compared to the best out there.
Follow Ups:
Yes, the "easing in" to attacks is noticeable. This started with Dohnanyi. It's not to avoid playing wrong notes. It's an intentional change to the overall sound of the orchestra. I've seen FWM ask for this in public dress rehearsals. You get more or less of that depending on who's "driving." For example, there was less of that with Boulez.
I don't hear a lot of wrong notes at Severance Hall (except from a really bad last-minute violin soloist substitution last year). The last rehearsal I went to was the ONLY one for Britten's Spring Symphony, a piece the orchestra never played before. It had to be the only rehearsal because weather kept the instruments from returning after an out of town gig. I know this piece very well, and there were no wrong notes in the rehearsal, and none in the concert. The rehearsal focused on expression and balance.
"Yes, the 'easing in' to attacks is noticeable. This started with Dohnanyi."Quite possible.... I think the Orchestra had its biggest virtuosic decline during Dohnanyi's tenure.
But this wasn't immediate. It was gradual. I don't know how much of it was actually Dohnanyi, and how much of it was a dropoff in talent. There was a huge changeover in personnel during that time. But I don't like what I've been seeing/hearing from the individual players. (I still would like to know what actually happened to violinist Stephen Majeske. The son of late concertmaster Daniel Majeske. This guy was a fine player, and he just disappeared.... )
"It's not to avoid playing wrong notes. It's an intentional change to the overall sound of the orchestra."
I cannot speak for others, but if this was an intended change, I hate it. Absolutely hate it. It basically took the signature strength of the Cleveland Orchestra prior to 1985, and transformed it into a weakness. I don't see anything endearing in the changed style, aside from guaranteeing "safe" performances.
I've noticed this effect to a lesser degree with other major orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic. It's a trend that really makes me want to say, "What are the heads of these institutions thinking?" .....
For how much some here loathe Sir George Solti, he would never stand for playing like this. (I don't think Toscanini, Szell, Reiner, Karajan, or even Charles Dutoit would have stood for it as well.) I'd rather see performances that are too daring than boringly safe. Especially if the musicians have the capability to deliver the fireworks.
This happens to be why Vladimir Horowitz was my all-time favorite classical musician.... If he decided to water down his playing, I would have hated that too.... For the exact same reason.
I recently linked a performance of Janine Jansen performing the Bruch Violin Concerto with the NHK Symphony. This is how the Cleveland Orchestra used to play. (Skip to 6:00 in the clip.) And I long for its return.
Edits: 09/14/14
I blame the conservative performances on editing of recordings prior to release. Audiences and even conservatory students hear note-perfect performances and come to believe that's more important than transferring an artistic message. Some of these "musicians" are merely robots.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
Then on the pop side, there's "Auto-Tune"..... Young singers wonder why they can't sing like that, realize it requires an "enhancement", then are enticed to use the enhancement..... And people then turn around wondering why we don't have great singers anymore.
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