Danny, let me make myself clear. I find that quote at least as offensive as you do in both directions, autistic people and French baroque lute music. When my friend said it, I understood the word autistic in the sense of "world apart", "beyond recognition".
In that sense, I'm suspicious that it was a widespread approach to French baroque lute music back then. I'm not critisizing pioneers: we're the dwarfs who stand on the giants' shoulders today, as we say it in German. What I'm critiszing, though, is an approach that still purports the same today. Mathias "Daniel Shoskes" <kidneykut...@gmail.com> schrieb: > OK, I've bought the CD so I'll pipe in. > > I think it was a good and interesting idea, but not particularly well > executed. Several of the movements became way too busy to appreciate > the musical line. Reminded me of the quote that "every good author > needs a good editor". > > Oh, and while we are displaying our feelings in this thread, Mathias, I > found the autistic comment (which I realize you didn't say but which > you quote) to be extremely offensive. Plenty of fine musicians on the > autistic spectrum (Glenn Gould being the most famous) whose > interpretations would attract rather than repel me from a musical > style. > > Danny > On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 11:53 AM, "Mathias Roesel" > <[1]mathias.roe...@t-online.de> wrote: > > Nicolas, > people are different, and that's a good thing. If you credit that > booklet with having guided you to the baroque lute, then that's a > good > thing, too. > > Perhaps you refer > > to the chapter "An update on performance practice", which is a bit > severe > > against the "historically authentic performance practice". > First, I have to confess that I gave the CD away after listening and > writing a review, because I didn't want to have it any more. So I > cannot > say to which particular chapter and verse I'd refer. > What I do well remember, though, is that according to that booklet, > 17th > century French culture was all about everybody sporting their > _decadence_ in terms of sophistication and elaborateness. Regarding > music, that would imply that just everything concerning metre, > tempo, > gesture, would be veiled beyond recognition. (And that's IMHO how > Lislevand interprets the music, indeed.) > I call that nonsense because I think that this concept suggests that > what Moliere depicted as a caricature of the precieux movement (in > his > comedy Les precieuses ridicules), was real life intended to be so. > > Unless you're talking about his recommendation to listen his > beautiful > > French music in good company, with a glass of wine and some tasty > cheese... > That's one more thing I wouldn't stand. I do like to eat and and > drink > in advance or after a recital, but def not while listening. Would be > like potato crisps in front of the TV set. Probably, I'm > old-fashioned. > I do not deny Lislevand's musicianship. He's a virtuoso. Yet because > of > his approach to this music, the pieces resulted in brilliant feats > beyond recognition. La belle Homicide is a courante, and I for one > should like to recognize a courante from the start. And if it's a > courante, I'd like to have it go on like a courante, in a steady > metre. > The whole things reminds me of a friend of mine who told me some > twenty > years ago (when I had no baroque lute yet) that French baroque lute > music is music by autistic composers intended for autistic audiences > (von Autisten fuer Autisten), so you don't need to understand > necessarily what's going on. Maybe it's a saraband, yes, but if it > sounds like a gavotte because of rubato or something else, hey, so > what? > Hey, enjoy those brilliant arpeggios, that's what it's all about! I > mean, that's caricature, isn't it. But it coined my prejudices about > French baroque lute music for the next 15 years. > OK, here I stop ranting. Hope you get the idea >8) To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
