----- Original Message -----
From: "WALSH STUART" <s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
To: "Alexander Batov" <alexander.ba...@vihuelademano.com>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 9:42 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Bartolotti Videos performed by Lex Eisenhardt
On 24 August 2010 21:52, Alexander Batov
<[1]alexander.ba...@vihuelademano.com> wrote:
OK, I'm glad we agree on this.
Alexander
On 24/08/2010 21:44, Monica Hall wrote:
It's not my rationale! I prefer the msuic without the bourdon on
the 5th course.
I've just been listening to the same suite on the CD which Lex made
in 1994 - with the "French" tuning. Much better in every way.
Monica
I'd be fascinated to hear both versions! The campanellas on these
videos sound great with the low bourdons - or rather, with skilful
avoidance of them (when necessary, as in campanellas). And their
presence is very subtle. Alexander didn't even hear the low fifth.
I know Monica and Lex have disputed these matters at length.
This is obviously very sophisticated music. If (if) there is not
sufficient evidence for either approach, and if it comes down to
preference, then I think I'd rather go for bourdons. But it would be
really interesting to hear one piece side by side with and without a
bourdon on the fifth.
Stuart
Well - that's what I was able to do as I have the CD. I think the quality
of the recording of the CD is better than in the video - which is of a live
performance and presumably unedited.
But the point is that in the video he is trying to leave out the bourdons
most of the time
and to my ears this results in the campanellas sounding tentative and
uneven - they don't ring out and overlap creating a bell-like effect. The
idea that the skips of a 7th etc must be eliminated so that all you have is
a rather feeble scale passage which would sound better played in a
conventional way is misguided. That's not what happens with bell ringing.
Also the bourdon on the fifth course creates an imbalence between 2 and 3
part counterpoint and the strummed 5-part chords which are too prominent -
especially if they are 6-4s.
There is no clear continuous bass line anyway and even in the gigue where
there are imitative entries you hear these in the upper octave rather than
the lower because it is impossible to leave the high octave string out.
The re-entrant effect is a constant.
I don't know what kind of strings he is using but in places the bourdon on
the 5th course sound twangy. Overwound perhaps which Bartolotti would
never have used. I would say that if you are going to use bourdons you
should use plain gut ones and use them - not leave them out 90% of the
time.
I just find this idea that somehow all the idiocyncracies must be eliminated
and the music made to sound as if it were rather inferior classical guitar
music is incredibly pedantic. It is the idiocyncracies that make the music
more interesting.
In both recordings the ornamentation is very basic. I know that
Bartolotti's instructions are very basic too - but I am sure that in
practice something much more elaborate would be appropriate.
Unfortunately most people who play this stuff are classical guitarists who
simply haven't registered that the baroque guitar and its music are
different from what they are used to.
Monica
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References
1. mailto:alexander.ba...@vihuelademano.com
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