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In Reply to: RE: How do you measure the "religious reverence" of a performance? posted by Analog Scott on July 26, 2016 at 07:23:51
You pose a valid question, and the answers are found in the nature and history of the art form.
To draw an analogy (Why, Hello, Ms. Sontag!), what we experience when we hear a recording of a concert performance of a sacred work such as Bach's "Catholic" Mass is similar to what we experience when we hear a recording of a concert performance of a suite taken from a ballet score.
In both cases, the recording we hear does not present the work in its originally intended context. However, in the same way that the conductor of a concert performance of a suite taken from a ballet score is under an obligation to conduct in such a way that dancers would find the music symbiotic with their dancing, the conductor of a concert performance of music meant to be embedded in a religious ritual has to be mindful of the missing context.
I am not saying that there is a magic formula. Slower is not always better. However, when a slower tempo allows the orderly and organic presentation of telling musical details, it is better. Celi is slow, but he never lets the pulse of the music die.
Another important aspect not to be disregarded is that the vocal soloists in sacred music should sound as though they believe the words they are singing (which of course is a different matter than whether they actually do).
ATB,
John
Follow Ups:
Good try, John, but I'm not sure it works. E.g., "Slower is not always better. However, when a slower tempo allows the orderly and organic presentation of telling musical details, it is better. Celi is slow, but he never lets the pulse of the music die." While "slower" can be comparatively established, all the rest -- better, orderly, organic, telling, lets the pulse . . . die -- is subjective.
One man's "better" is another's worse, and what stirs me to religiosity is not the same as what stirs another.
But I do value your opinion of performance quality, even unto the inclusion of the occasional "religious" or even "urbane" (should you ever decide to deploy it). Just as with others, reading your input over time and sampling items you prefer or not allows me to speculate as to the value of a purchase.
Jeremy
[When cleaning] CDs of religious music, it is imperative that you use extra virgin olive oil. ;-)
How true that the proper mood must be set for worship.
I'd hate to hear those vocal soloists clip their vibrato in such a way as to insinuate sarcasm and/or disbelief...
No way I can listen to anything by Copland without visualizing those dancing cowboys!
Can the music be performed by other than dancing cowboys? (Must say, my vinyl performances are audio only, so I cannot answer whether they prove or disprove.)
Jeremy
Now that's something we can all get behind! ;-)
BTW, I'm glad you used the word "organic". (I sometimes use the word "holistic" too.) It implies that the musical details are not pushed forward in an artificial "looky what I found!" way.
LOL.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
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