> Now I must beg your pardon. I had no idea I was >corresponding with the >sole arbiter of musical taste of our time. (please read the >sarcasm into the >tone.)
> Or, to put it another way: Does the grass around your >place grow >especially green because of all that BS? > JM It's even greener than you can imagine, a vitrual jungle, if you throw into the fertilizer, That he also dictates who is the best player is. Michael Thames www.ThamesClassicalGuitars.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Mayes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Roman Turovsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Denys Stephens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "lute net" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 10:41 AM Subject: Re: Repertoire, was: memorization > > > > On 3/31/05 9:55 AM, "Roman Turovsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >> I have heard the claim - only from lute players - that the lute > >> repertoire is much larger than that of the classical guitar. This seems to > >> be accepted as undisputed fact - again, only by lute players. > >> > >> I have been immersed in both worlds now for over 40 years, I have been > >> paying close attention, I am not in any way hampered by some bias one way or > >> the other - and I do not see it that way at all. > >> > >> I think, without any basis in solid research, that there's more guitar > >> music just from the 19th century than there is lute music in total. > > That is indeed true, but only if you include Biedermeier wallpaper "music" > > in Music. > > ...So you're saying that there is no "pedestrian" music in the lute's > rep? > > > > > > > >> If a guitarist already knew all of the music for his instrument - > >> including the art songs, guitar ensemble music, duos, concerti, etudes, etc. > >> - he couldn't possibly keep up with the music that is being published every > >> day. > > There is an enormous amount of it churned out by MO and the like every year, > > but I doubt that any of it is Music, with the exception of Peteris Vasks > > guitar Sonata (probably the only guitar piece by a world-class composer > > during 20th century). Sound effects pap of Delpriora's type just cannot > > count. > > > > RT > > Now I must beg your pardon. I had no idea I was corresponding with the > sole arbiter of musical taste of our time. (please read the sarcasm into the > tone.) > > Or, to put it another way: Does the grass around your place grow > especially green because of all that BS? > > JM > > > > > > > > ______________ > > Roman M. Turovsky > > http://polyhymnion.org/swv > > > > > > > > > >> > >> > >> On 3/30/05 6:01 PM, "Denys Stephens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > >>> Dear Michael, > >>> > >>> You wrote: > >>> > >>> "I wonder if lute concerts will ever be on the level of guitar concerts > >>> where lutenist's have the proper professional stage presence to not be > >>> staring at their music all the time. This might give them more appeal to > >>> the general concert going public, and more acceptance by guitarist's. I > >>> always felt a little jiped when a guitarist would play a concert sight > >>> reading the whole thing, I thought they didn't spend enough time learning > >>> the music." > >>> > >>> Funnily enough I don't take great exception to this, although it baffles me > >>> as to why you would want to be in the company of lutenists if you think so > >>> little of our ability as performers! > >>> > >>> The paths of lutenists and guitarists diverged 30 years ago - there is a > >>> tradition of playing from tablature amongst lutenists, but I would not > >>> necessarily equate it with sight reading. I think you will find most lute > >>> players spend as much time studying the music and developing their > >>> interpretations as any guitarist - it's just a different way of working. > >>> The lute repertoire is very significantly larger than that of the classical > >>> guitar. > >>> Segovia (whom I admire greatly) did much to establish the form and content > >>> of the guitar recital format, which included playing from memory, but it has > >>> to be said that the content of his performances was predictable. > >>> There are only so many times that you want to hear the Bach Chaconne, the > >>> Villa Lobos preludes and so on before your ears glaze over, whether played > >>> from memory or not. I don't know what others on the list think, but I have > >>> certainly noticed a marked reduction in the number of classical guitar > >>> recitals since the 1980's and I think the lack of repertoire is very much > >>> part of that. > >>> > >>> Lutenists, by way of contrast, have a sufficient wealth of repertoire to > >>> play concert after concert without playing the same piece twice. I'm not > >>> claiming that we always do that, but there is great scope for variety. > >>> We don't need to hang our careers on grandiose "interpretations" of the > >>> same few pieces. Renaissance music is not Romantic music (in the > >>> context of the music history definition of the word) - the players role is > >>> often to detach one's ego from the performance and let the music > >>> speak for itself. > >>> > >>> So it's a different world to that of the classical guitar - please feel > >>> welcome to be part of it, but try to understand that there are reasons why > >>> we do things our own way. > >>> > >>> Best wishes, > >>> > >>> Denys > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> To get on or off this list see list information at > >>> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >> > >> > >> > > > > > >
