Stuart,
I didn't interpret Rob's term "fun" as meaning joke.
I did like your term "humour", though. But in the sense of mood.
He does seem to be strumming the foundation chords and letting loose
a delicate filagree of notes before starting the metrical strumming
and written part. Sort of an attached prelude.
I enjoyed (and applaud) Ferries' creativity. I thought the
performance created an interesting form, bookending (if you will) the
written middle with his improvised runs and strumming. (I don't know
if it is an existing piece, but it does look as if he is reading a
score).
I would also put this in the direction some of the creative work of
Lislevand. It used the performers creativity and technical skills and
even the modern tapping technique to bring more interest to a simple
original. Making interesting music (or making the music interesting)
seems to me to be the job of a performer.
A simple, straight approach is also possible. But, of course, those
written variations are already making the original ground "fancier".
This also brings to mind a story my friend Ed Martin told of hearing
a suite of Weiss performed by Hopkinson Smith. Ed (with a strong
knowledge of the baroque lute repertoire) didn't recognize the
prelude and asked Hoppy where it came from. He replied with a smile
"the Basel manuscript".
-- R
On Sep 24, 2008, at 8:04 AM, Stuart Walsh wrote:
2008/9/24 Stuart Walsh [EMAIL PROTECTED]
What Gordon is doing is a bit puzzling and I thought it was worth
talking about. What's your problem with that?
Nothing. What do you want to discuss?
Rob
The preluding bit. Gordon's video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/bananamunga
There is about 50 seconds of preluding or toccata-ing before th
epiece. Is Gordon strumming each successive chord of the ground?
Anyway: each solitary strummed chord is followed by (given the
recording set-up?) almost inaudible very fast scale passages played
as ligados.
Rob suggests it a kind of jokey thing - which it might be, of
course. But I can't see anything in the presentation or demeanour
that suggests it. Perhaps for one passing moment, the slightly
flamboyant hammer-on (which I misdescribed as an harmonic) might
be seen as tongue-in-cheek. But not obviously so.
Given the context - the laudable one of promoting a CD - it seems a
little strange to have a chunk of rather enigmatic humour before
actually playing the piece.
And jokes often have a point, or point of reference. Is it a parody
of something or someone? Les Buffons is about as basic as is gets
as a tune/ground. It's just a strong little tune. So why would you
want to preamble towards it in so florid a way?
Stuart
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