Dear friends, First of all, I'm very happy to read so many replies to my post! I'm sorry if I was too hard on Mr. Rooley, but I wanted to be as precise as possible about the event I recently attended.
My first question to you is, do you know how much ground work Anthony Rooley has done to make the 'lute revival' what it is today? While this question has nothing to do with technique, nor with your concert experience, I think it is important to demonstrate a bit of respect for the people who have, through writings, recordings and performances, created an example from which we have come to understand and interpret this music we love so much. Ron, I don't know how much effort Mr. Rooley has done to promote the lute, I can only say that the sound was too soft not only for me but for the whole audience. Not only soft but his playing was faulty (not surprisingly some people mentioned that too), the sound was dark, the scales were not legato and his musical intentions were all lost specially in his solos. I didn't mean to disrespect him, English is not my first language, perhaps I was bit rough on the issue... "Secondly, I have to ask how much do you perform on the lute?" Not as often as I wished... Have you played in the hall you described? Yes I have played in that hall my times, last time (two months ago) was with orchestra (Vivadi's Four Seasons) with a 5 course guitar. Lastly, a word about lute technique. We, as humans, are all put together a bit differently. We all have different fingers. This was undoubtedly the case 400-500 years ago as well. There never was _one_ way to play the lute, and there still is not _one_ way to play the lute. If your background is, like so many lutenists, classical guitar, then I can only say I'm sorry. I understand the idea that Segovia's technique is the only way to play guitar has slowly given way since that great artist passed on. I really didn't understand what you mean. Why you mentioned guitar background ? Hopefully, lutenists will at some point stop being afraid that they are doing it wrong, and get on with playing music in a way that touches the listener. While I have not had the privilege of hearing Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley in a live concert, I do appreciate their obvious mutual understanding of the music they play. I accept the quiet performance because it gives me the opportunity to listen intently and focus on the music. In my opinion, It's not a matter of being right or wrong but sounding good or not. Of course it's a matter of taste as well. However, we must be careful not to ignore completely our audience because ultimately they are the ones who are paying to watch our silent instrument... Glad to read your reply, Bruno. Best wishes, Ron Andrico http://www.mignarda.com > Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:13:24 -0300 > To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [LUTE] Lute concert > > > > > > > Dear lutenists, > > > > While having a glass of Malbec wine and my memory is still reasonably > > fresh, I'd like to share a few coments about the concert that Anthony > Rooley > > and Emma Kirkby gave here in Rio de Janeiro last Friday. > > First of all, I was very excited to see two very famous specialists in > early > > music in a recital dedicated to English songs (Dowland, Campion and > > Coprario). By coincidence my last concert was on English songs as > well... > > > > The hall is fairly large one, 835 seats to be specific. However the > > acoustics is wonderful, I've seen many great concerts there. But that > night > > only one third of the hall was full and I on purpose was seating on the > 8th > > row (about the middle of the theatre) just because I wanted to know how > the > > duo would deal with the sound projection in such a place. For a moment > > before the concert I thought that it might be amplified... silly > thought, it > > wasn't. > > > > The concert began and they made a very good visual impression, she was > > dressed beautifully, perfect for the ocasion while he was more discreet > but > > nevertheless good looking on stage. Her singing was superb from the > > beguinning of the concert to the end, hard to describe how well sang: > Her > > gestures, phrasing, dynamics, interpretaion, diction, knowledge of the > > style, sensitivity, everything combined to deliver a first class > recital. > > > > Well, I was suposed to be talking about the lute! Sorry... > > > > On the other hand, the lute sound was very, very, very small... Anthony > > joked before the second half explaining about the English lute song > > repertoire and especially the lute: "The smallest sounding instrument > men > > ever built" (his words...), people laughed, unfortunately for a moment a > > felt myself as having "The smallest pXnXs in the world"... > > In fact it was hard to hear his (Anthony) playing and in the few > ocasions > > where he did solos, it was also painful to hear or to understand what he > was > > doing. later I understood why. > > > > The second half I sat at the third row on the right side of the hall. I > must > > say it was better not only to see Emma's closely and wach her > expressions > > but also to hear the poor chap on the lute. Then I had a better idea of > what > > was going on. Apart from the size of the hall being not ideal for such a > > performance, the lutenist was playing with guitar technique, not resting > > the pinky on the soundboard and not plucking the strings properly (I > mean, > > using the technique described by Pat O'Brian as releasing the finger > from > > the string, which enhances the sound quite a bit), his hand was also > jumping > > every chord he played and finally there was no sight of thumb under or > even > > thumb over (as Nigel North) in the divisions and scales. It was not for > free > > that his overrall sound was very stacato and specially the divisions > were > > very non legato with his index middle alternation. My impression was > simply > > that he did not bring the sound effectively from the instrument and in > fact > > everyone I knew in the concert complained about it (I'm not that > crazy...) > > > > After the recital I decided to ask him a few questions. He said he was > using > > nylon strings and Pyramid wounded basses. Well, at least now is very > clear > > why the sound was so dark on the trebles besides of his faulty > technique... > > With PVF or even better Nylgut (gut would be very tricky) the result > could > > have been a little better. > > > > This kind of event makes me feel great by seing our instrument being > exposed > > to an wider audience, but the general feeling according to most people > that > > I know including musicians, that the lute is not apt to the concert > > plataform, still remains. > > > > Note - Coments welcomed! > > > > -- > > > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > ------------------------------ > Can you find the hidden words? Take a break and play Seekadoo! Play > now!<http://club.live.com/seekadoo.aspx?icid=seek_wlmailtextlink> > --
