I had another long but very rewarding rehearsal today with AW and JP. Pieces for the night included the 3rd movement of Schubert's B-flat Trio, and the first movement of Ravel's Trio (again!).
To me, the third movement of the Schubert B-flat is the most elusive of the four movements, and, from the performance perspective, the most difficult to bring out. The tempo - set by the pianist, ie, me, alas - needs to be just right. Too fast, it becomes a frantic drinking song; too slow, the charm and lightness of those staccato notes are lost. It's so easy for this movement to end up sounding squared - the rhythmic motives are repetitious, and there isn't much variation in note values throughout. It's also not easy to conjure up a "mood" or a picture for this Scherzo and Trio. I see the Scherzo as a light, almost dainty, and somewhat elegant minuet, and the Trio as a kind casual salon music with a tinge of sadness. AW sees lots more personal sentiments/emotions/sadness in the Trio (perhaps because she has the most melodic part to play?); she even feels that the Trio is little meditative (which I sort of agree). JP, not inclined to associate this music with definite pictures, regards the whole movement as music beautiful in its "simplicity". There are so many interpretive possibilities for this movement.
One important thing I learned today concerning the Trio of this movement is, because the entire Trio is constructed as a quasi-canon between the violin and cello, there is little room for the pianist to take time even at the sensitive or expressive spots (or else the cellist would have the most difficult time keeping the line).
We also spent sometime duscussing a workable "mood" for the first movement of the Ravel. To me, this movement, and French music of late 19th / early 20th century in general, has an impersonal quality in the sense that the music is more about depicting impressions or sensations of, say, a traveler, rather than expressing the composer's inner sentiments, angst, or deep emotions. The following is, I think, a wonderfully appropriate (and useful) picture for the movement's second theme that we came up with: a calm lake by a green mountain, the surface of which is occasionally decorated with ripples from little water droplets (musically depicted by that D note played by the piano with cello pizz., on the 3rd beat).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Great to read! It's interesting that three musicians may come upon to an agreement of a picture from the music. I cannot associate the picture quite much to the music in question, but this visualisation is actually quite vivid, albeit the calmness and vastness that I could imagine.
Dennis! Thanks for your note! Yes, it wonderful that we could come to at least some agreement as to how we should "visualize" the pieces. Such visualization can sometimes be very helpful. I have to say it's great to work with them -- every rehearsal has been inspiring (but also tiring). Thanks so much for your comment -- I am trying to restart my blog, and so, your note is definitely an encouragement to me to write more on a regular basis.
Sometimes it is, sometimes not; music is such a strange creature, the opposite of vision. But whenever it comes as an inspiration of getting closer to the inner world, I think that would be enjoyable and may be getting a feel of revelation.
Yeah hopefully to see your posts more regularly!
Post a Comment