Arts and Humanities Commons^™

"The Art Of Re-Enchantment: Making Early Music In The Modern Age," By Nick Wilson, Geoffrey Burgess

Performance Practice Review

Geoffrey Burgess discusses Nick Wilson's 2013 work.

Wilson, Nick. The Art of Re-enchantment: Making Early Music in the Modern Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0199939930.

"Beyond The Score: Music As Performance" By Nicholas Cook, Aron Edidin

Performance Practice Review

Aron Edidin reviews and discusses Nicholas Cook's 2013 work. Cook, Nicholas. Beyond the Score: Music as Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-19-935740-6.

The Off-Board String On The Medieval Fiddle, Linda Marie Zaerr

Performance Practice Review

Drawing on explicit descriptions, iconographic representations, and contemporary narrative, this essay analyzes playing techniques and repertories plausible for one type of medieval fiddle and suggests that notions of historical fiddle performance may need to expand to accommodate the aesthetics and techniques implied by the off-board fiddle.

While it has been widely assumed that the left thumb was used to pluck the laterally divergent string described by Jerome of Moravia, the complete body of evidence suggests an alternative interpretation: the thumb can be used to stop this off-board string, extending the melodic range of the instrument down to a step below …

"The Notation Is Not The Music: Reflections On Early Music Practice And Performance" By Barthold Kuijken, Colin Lawson

Performance Practice Review

Colin Lawson discusses and reviews Kuijken's 2013 work.

Kuijken, Barthold. The Notation Is Not the Music: Reflections on Early Music Practice and Performance. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2013.

ISBN: 978-0-253-01060-5

Commonality And Diversity In Recordings Of Beethoven’S Middle-Period String Quartets, Nancy November

Performance Practice Review

A widespread opinion in recent research about the performance of Beethoven’s works is that artists need to restore a connection to "tradition," and that recordings from the early twentieth century can help with this. However, these early recordings tell us most about the aesthetics and performance ideals of their day, and hence how Beethoven and his string quartets were received by early twentieth-century audiences. Case studies of early recordings of Beethoven middle-period quartets reveal ways in which these these performances differed, sometimes radically, from the kinds of performances Beethoven would have expected to hear, especially with regard to the use …

By Word Of Mouth: Historical Performance Comes Of Age, Ingrid E. Pearson

Performance Practice Review

Since Clive Brown’s 1991 accusation that many twentieth-century manifestations of historical performance lacked an appropriate degree of musical sensitivity, the historical performance movement has truly come of age. In the arena of Western Art music, historical performance is now an essential component of musical training and education. Successful performers must be able to seamlessly function across the widest possible range of musical styles, accommodating an equally wide gamut of tastes, both individually and collectively.

In 1982, nine years earlier, Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word explored differences between oral and literate cultures. Of particular interest to …

"Interpreting Mozart: The Performance Practice Of His Piano Pieces And Other Compositions" By Eva Badura-Skoda And Paul Badura-Skoda, Andrew Willis

Performance Practice Review

Willis reviews and critiques Eva and Paul Badura-Skoda's 2009.

"Mendelssohn In Performance" By Siegwart Reichwald, David Montgomery

Performance Practice Review

Montgomery reviews and critiques Reichwald's work.

"The Rosary Cantoral: Ritual And Social Design In A Chantbook From Early Renaissance Toledo" By Lorenzo Candelaria, Kenneth Kreitner

Performance Practice Review

Kreitner reviews and critiques Candelaria's book.

"Performance Practice: Issues And Approaches" By Thomas Watkins, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

Jackson discusses and critiques Watkin's book.

What Can The Organ Partitura To Tomás Luis De Victoria’S Missae, Magnificat, Motecta, Psalmi Et Alia Quam Plurima Of 1600 Tell Us About Performance Practice?, Noel O'Regan

Performance Practice Review

Article written by Noel O'Regan

"The Clarinet" By Eric Hoeprich, Colin Lawson

Performance Practice Review

Lawson discusses and critiques Hoeprich's book on the history of the clarinet.

"The End Of Early Music: A Period Performer's History Of Music For The Twenty-First Century" By Bruce Haynes, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

Jackson critiques and discusses Haynes' book on the history of early music performance.

Consequentialism About Historical Authenticity, Aron Edidin

Performance Practice Review

The historical authenticity movement arrived on a wave of polemical prose, and was met by a similarly energetic polemical response. The controversy has persisted to the present day.

"Monsieur De Saint Lambert: A New Treatise On Accompaniment." Trans. And Ed. By John S. Powell, Charlotte S. Mattax

Performance Practice Review

Reviews and critiques Powell's translation and editorial work on Lambert's Accompaniment Treatise.

A Suggested Improvement For The Fisk Organ At Stanford, Mark Lindley

Performance Practice Review

The unequal temperaments of Stanford's Fisk organ should be modified to reflect more accurately the characteristics of Renaissance and Baroque keyboard tunings.

Interpretation Problems Of Ornament Symbols And Two Recent Case Histories: Hans Klotz On Bach, Faye Fergusonon Mozart, Frederick Neumann

Performance Practice Review

The reliance on 17th- and 18th-c. ornament tables in 'authentic' performance often leads to rigid interpretations. A monograph by Hans Klotz (RILM 1984-05515-bm) and a review by Faye Ferguson perpetuate a rigid view of how 18th-c. ornaments should be interpreted.

Stravinsky, Tempo, And Le Sacre, Erica Heisler Buxbaum

Performance Practice Review

In reviews of recorded performances by others of Le sacre du printemps, Stravinsky contradicted his metronome markings and his own recorded performance tempos. His preferred tempos in the reviews encompass a range wider than the markings imply, yet more narrow than his own performance tempos suggest.

The "Not-So-Precisely Measured" Music Of The Middle Ages, Hendrik Van Der Werf

Performance Practice Review

Evidence from medieval writers, musical notation, and variant readings in the sources all suggest that troubadour and trouvere songs were performed in more or less equal note values and in a manner that presented the poetry clearly.

'Back To The Land': Performance Practice And The Classic Period, Malcom S. Cole

Performance Practice Review

Although much valuable work has been done on performance practice in the Classic period, many issues await detailed study.

"The Sounds And Sights Of Performance In Early Music: Essays In Honour Of Timothy J. Mcgee" By Maureen Epp And Brian E. Power, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

Roland Jackson discusses and critiques the 2009 work of Maureen Epp and Brian E. Power.

Epp, Maureen, Brian E. Power, eds. The Sounds and Sights of Performance in Early Music: Essays in Honour of Timothy J. McGee. Surrey (UK) and Burlington (VT): Ashgate Publishing Company, 2009.

ISBN 978-0-7546-5483-4.

Book Review: "Performance Practice: A Dictionary-Guide For Musicians." By Roland Jackson, Peter Holman

Performance Practice Review

Peter Holman discusses and critiques Roland Jackson's Dictionary-Guide to performance-practice-related terms.

Book Reviews: "Musical Instruments: History, Technology, And Performance Of Instruments Of Western Music." By Murray Campbell, Clive Greated And Arnold Myers, And "From Renaissance To Baroque: Change In Instruments And Instrumental Music In The Seventeenth Century: Proceedings Of The National Early Music Association Conference Held, In Association With The Department Of Music, University Of York And The York Early Music Festival, At The University College Of Ripon And York St Johan, York, 2-4 July 1999." By Jonathan Wainwright And Peter Holman., Rudolf Rasch

Performance Practice Review

Rasch reviews two books on musical instruments.

Campbell, Murray, Clive Greated, and Arnold Myers. "Musical Instruments: History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-816504-8.

Wainwright, Jonathan, Peter Holman, eds. "From Renaissance to Baroque: Change in Instruments and Instrumental Music in the Seventeenth Century. Proceedings of the National Early Music Association Conference held, in association with the Department of Music, University of York and the York Early Music Festival, at the University College of Ripon and York St Johan, York, 2-4 July 1999." Aldershot Hampshire: Ashgate, 2005. ISBN 0-7546-0403-9.

Book Review: "Singing In Style: A Guide To Vocal Performance Practices." By Martha Elliott., Margaret Murata

Performance Practice Review

Murata reviews and critiques Martha Elliot's book on singing.

Elliott, Martha. "Singing in Style: A Guide to Vocal Performance Practices." New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-300-10932-6.

Authenticity Or Authenticities?--Performance Practice And The Mainstream, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract:"A critique of Peter Kivy's book Authenticities: Philosophical reflections on musical performance (RILM 1995-1431). Kivy proposes that performance involves four authenticities: composer (the composer's original conception), sonic (the restoring of original sound materials), personal (the performer's interpretation), and sensible (the meaning attached by an audience). The first two are furthered by performance practice, the last two by the mainstream. A reconciliation is proposed in that performance practice can encompass personalized Expression and the mainstream can profit from greater awareness of the details of historical performance."

Performing The Medieval Lyric: A Metrical-Accentual Approach, Roger Pensom

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: Linguistic and metrical accents present many challenges to performers of Old French and Provencal verse. A hypothesis is presented that resolves these problems: If the verse-metrical structure varies from stanza to stanza in the context of a melody that is repeated from stanza to stanza, then the rhythmic structure of the melody changes, paralleling the meter of the verse. Bernart de Ventadorn's Can vei la lauzeta mover is used as an example."

Book Review: "Performing Beethoven." By Robin Stowell, Eva Badura-Skoda, Paul Badura-Skoda

Performance Practice Review

The Badura-Skodas discuss and review Stowell's 1994 book.

Performance Practice And The Falsobordone, Murray C. Bradshaw

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "While the falsobordone was not the most sophisticated genre of the 16th and early 17th c., it was among the most popular. Its popularity can be attributed to its simple polyphonic style, which lent itself to a variety of performances. The falsobordone could be sung by either a full choir or a solo ensemble (with recitations sung in uneven values and without a metrical pulse, but with cadences almost always articulated metrically). It could be performed as a solo song accompanied by organ or another instrument, as a highly embellished solo piece (passaggiato), or as a polychoral composition …

José Bowen's Essay: A Few Afterthoughts, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstarct: "Performance practice might benefit from CHARM (The Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music) particularly because of the access it affords to a wide range of recordings. Scholars can thereby more extensively compare, for example, composer's recordings of their own works. For practices of the early 20th c. the recordings of various composers (e.g., Grieg, Skrjabin, Elgar) may be taken as instructive models."

Invoking A Past Or Imposing A Present? Two Views Of Performance Practice, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Richard Taruskin has characterized performance practice or historical performance as not truly historical, but rather as a reflection of a mid-20th-c. Zeitgeist dominated by Stravinsky. In contrast with this presentist view, wherein spontaneous performance, the act, is deemed the highest value, the historicist view affirms that music (along with art works generally) is endowed with a quality of permanent value independent of how it was regarded in its own time or how people react to it now. Historicist performance practice holds that a composer's intention (the autonomous work) is rediscoverable, at least in part, and that the manner …