> the modern world. Otherwise, what is the point of the
> 20th-century lute revival? Simply to amass information for
Passing over your easy irony and attacks to the HIP police 8^), in my
opinion, the point is to play music in a way that is the closest possible to
the way it might have sounded, for a number of reasons related to music of
course, not to some kind of blind decision. Otherwise it would be pointless
to try to understand how the ancient lutenists played, to try to use the
strings they used and so on. Let's pick up a galute, amplify it and go
around saying it's a lute and that what we are playing is lute music. If
this is ok for you, ok then, there is no reason to discuss anymore.
What is the point of the 20th century revival of gamba? Or of the
baroque oboe when there is the modern one which is much more in tune? Or
traversiere or any other of the "ancient" instruments. Do you think that the
players of these instruments are so worried about the survival of them? I
don't think so, they simply play them trying to follow the original practice
and try to do it well and this is the best guarantee of their survival. It
seems to me there is a sort of feeling of inferiority in the lute world that
doesn't seem to belong to other instrument players, as if we should always
apologize or justify us for playing an ancient instrument with its own
technique. It seems that to play the "old" way and the "old" lute music in a
decent way would be the death of the lute. See, if this is true and really
the survival of the lute is something that cares to him, why Sting & C.
didn't *compose* new music for it? It would have been a wonderful idea and
really a way to promote the instrument without any need to sell for
"authentic" and "the right way" something that is nothing different than a
bad performance of ancient music.
> its own sake? Or satisfy the whims of a few heads-in-
> the-sand purists? Perhaps, but if Sting can bring the lute
About the head in the sand I would say that if one thinks that the Sting CD
is well performed than really he has the head in the sand as his hears seem
to work so and so... To sing out of tune or out of tempo is wrong, HIP or
not HIP.
> to a wider audience than we can, then he has succeeded where
> we have failed.
The point is that he is bringing to a wide audience music that in my opinion
sounds bad because it's badly performed, with some sort of hybrid
instruments and hybrid technique and poor vocal technique. As he has access
to a lot more people than any of the professional lutenists in the world,
all those people listening at his CD will get a distorted idea of what early
music is. I'm not sure this will be a good service to the lute world and
that the curiosity it will spin in some of the listeners will be prevalent.
Taco said:
> As long as there is a niche for a group of people sharing their
sensitivity for a better dowland performance or a 'slow food' restaurant, I
really don't mind.
and me too. 8^)
All the best
Francesco
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