TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
9th Biennial Conference on Baroque Music
ABSTRACT
Bach Performances during the Late 20th Century: Practice, Scholarship,
and Reception
Dorottya Fabian Somorjay
A thorough review of performance practice research, contemporary reviews
and interviews as well as a close study of recordings of the Goldberg
Variations and Brandenburg Concertos provide the background
to this paper. The analysis of these sound and written documents supports
the view that the metric performance of rhythm and an articulation stemming
from this are key factors in creating a historically stylish performance,
often more crucial than the use of period instruments or the execution/addition
of ornaments. The analysis however also points to contradictions between
scholarship and practice, and to anomalies in proclaimed and actual achievements.
Two of these issues are investigated further: (i) the performance and perception
of dotted rhythms, and (ii) the nature and identity of meaning in the perception
of baroque music.
The first, being a much emphasised topic of the 1960s-1980s, warrants
special consideration because the study of sound recordings and published
arguments shows discrepancy regarding the execution, ratio and consequent
musical character of dotted patterns. The paper compares musicological
theories with digitally measured dotting ratios in various commercial recordings,
and reports on experiments designed to test listeners’ perceptions of the
“dotted”-ness of musical excerpts using empirically hypothesised ratios
and articulations.
The second is an initial step towards addressing an anomaly that seems
to underlie the current understanding of baroque performance practice:
namely the tacit assumption that the perceptual process is transparent.
In this regard the results of another experiment are provided that examines
the characteristics of a ‘stylish’ baroque performance as judged by listeners
as opposed to theoretical claims.
Last updated on 22 March 2000 by Yo
Tomita