On Jul 8, 2005, at 1:22 AM, Owain Sutton wrote:
Neal Schermerhorn wrote:
...e 13 notes to the bar
all equal to a quintuplet division of a quarter. Basically 2 sets of 5
sixteenths with a 5 under them, and 3 extra. Am I close?
Spot on
Time for a reality check. There are other ways to notate such complex rhythmic proportions, some of them much more intuitive to play. Check out Ben Johnston's Knocking Piece, wh. was published in Source #2 (1967) and recorded at least once. There are no meter signatures. A bold = sign thru the barline in each individual staff indicates that the preceding note value is maintained across the barline, so that for example when a bar of 5:4 eighths (5 eighths in the space of 4) is followed by a bar of four eighth notes with an = sign between the two bars, then the four eighth notes are to be played as if they were 4/5 of a quintuplet. Since the other player has something completely different and equally complex in the same bar, the presence of a meter signature would simply create confusion and visual clutter.
As for the esthetic issues involved, Johnston is worth hearing: "If the rationally controlled shifting tempi are not mastered, the realization [tapping on a piano interior] will deteriorate into feigned vandalism. If the marathon ensemble cooperation and concentration required fail, the performance will be impossible to execute. A spirit of competitiveness between the performers will destroy the piece. The players must be friends; in quick alternation each must support the other."
I have heard several live performances of this piece and found them thrilling. As for Ferneyhough, I've never heard anything of his that I would ever care to hear again. 'Nuff said.
the still-small set
of musicians who can play a quintuplet accurately in the first place.
You can't be serious. Chopin requires them!
I personally question the value of having such rhythms in music when there's
plenty of life left in the ones most people can actually play, but hey, you
write what you like, no problem with me.
Rhythms at this level of complexity appear in a large body of music from the late 14th-early 15th centuries. Should these be ignored?
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/
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