Variety in Performance: A comparative Analysis of Recorded Performances of Bach's Sixth Suite for Solo Cello from 1961 to 1998

There exists a commonly held belief amongst musicologists that there has been a ―general globalisation of styles‖ within recorded performances of the latter half of the twentieth century. For many, this is evidenced by an increased interaction between mainstream (MS) and historically informed performance (HIP) practices as well as a general decrease in the diversity of performances. Through a comparative aural and software-assisted analysis and measurement of performance features such as tempo, rhythmic flexibility, vibrato, portamento, bowing, and articulation in key interpretations of Bach‘s Suite No. 6 for Solo Cello recorded in between 1961 and 1998, this study investigates the relationship between MS and HIP performances in the latter half of the 20th century. By limiting analyses to those performers who have made two recordings during the designated period (Tortelier, Starker, Bylsma, Ma, Wispelwey), it has been possible to identify overarching trends and individual differences. These have been examined with reference to their broader social and cultural context in order to test commonly held musicological assumptions about the modernist and postmodernist foundations of performances from this era. The results indicate that by the 1990s increased interaction between MS and HIP practices has resulted in a wider variety of differing performances and that this can be seen to be symptomatic of the postmodern condition that has become prevalent since the last decade of the 20th century

Samuel Zyman’s "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra": An Analytical Approach

A professor at The Juilliard School since 1986, Zyman is one of Mexico’s foremost composers of today. His cello concerto (1990) exhibits solid technique, intense expression, and effective interaction between soloist and orchestra. The author demonstrates much stylistic and formal freedom. His opus mixes both antique and modern references within traditional instrumental usage and prevailing neomodal flair. One outstanding feature is the full exploitation of a basic melody to generate an interrelated musical idiom that reveals both unity and variety. The appendix contains an interview with the Mexican artist

Measuring Expressive Music Performances: a Performance Science Model using Symbolic Approximation

Music Performance Science (MPS), sometimes termed systematic musicology in Northern Europe, is concerned with designing, testing and applying quantitative measurements to music performances. It has applications in art musics, jazz and other genres. It is least concerned with aesthetic judgements or with ontological considerations of artworks that stand alone from their instantiations in performances. Musicians deliver expressive performances by manipulating multiple, simultaneous variables including, but not limited to: tempo, acceleration and deceleration, dynamics, rates of change of dynamic levels, intonation and articulation. There are significant complexities when handling multivariate music datasets of significant scale. A critical issue in analyzing any types of large datasets is the likelihood of detecting meaningless relationships the more dimensions are included. One possible choice is to create algorithms that address both volume and complexity. Another, and the approach chosen here, is to apply techniques that reduce both the dimensionality and numerosity of the music datasets while assuring the statistical significance of results. This dissertation describes a flexible computational model, based on symbolic approximation of timeseries, that can extract time-related characteristics of music performances to generate performance fingerprints (dissimilarities from an ‘average performance’) to be used for comparative purposes. The model is applied to recordings of Arnold Schoenberg’s Phantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment, Opus 47 (1949), having initially been validated on Chopin Mazurkas.1 The results are subsequently used to test hypotheses about evolution in performance styles of the Phantasy since its composition. It is hoped that further research will examine other works and types of music in order to improve this model and make it useful to other music researchers. In addition to its benefits for performance analysis, it is suggested that the model has clear applications at least in music fraud detection, Music Information Retrieval (MIR) and in pedagogical applications for music education

Co-performer empathy in expert ensemble playing

This thesis, comprising four empirical studies, investigates the process of co-performer empathy in expert ensemble playing. Following an extensive review of the existing literature relating to both optimal experiences of performance and empathy, it begins by probing the relationship between ensemble musicians’ optimal experiences of performance and their experiences of co-performer empathy through a series of focus group interviews. In addition to co-performer empathy, spontaneous interpretative flexibility (SIF) in performance is identified to be a central feature of optimal experiences of expert ensemble performance. Through observational case studies, involving video-recall, acoustic analyses, and heart-rate measures, a model of process of co-performer empathy and the related process of SIF is constructed. The final model shows co-performer empathy to be a cyclical process grounded in a pre-requisite shared approach, both to the music and to working together. It is often characterised by a special connection between players. It involves the identification of a co-performer’s expressive intention, followed by an appropriate expressive response. Co-performer empathy appears to be a context-specific form of musical empathy that emerges as a group process during ensemble playing, and does not seem to be directly related to trait empathy. Finally, from the findings of these empirical studies, potential techniques for strengthening co-performer empathy and the production of SIF in ensemble playing are proposed

WIENIAWSKI’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE CULTURE OF EXPRESSION: Understanding The Aesthetics Of Violin Music In The Nineteenth Century

Numerous studies relevant to Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) have been conducted on context and performance aesthetics, and while many recording analyses of nineteenth century violin repertoire have been undertaken, a gap between these two approaches exists. This research aims to investigate the link between eyewitness reports of Wieniawski’s performances of his own works and early recordings of Wieniawski’s music by performing artists who were contemporaries of the composer. From this discussion we can contextualize Wieniawski’s own performances via comments made by writers of the period to the recordings mentioned as the performing artists who recorded the composer’s works had a direct connection with Wieniawski. Based on concert reports, numerous eyewitnesses attested to the profound expressiveness of Wieniawski’s playing style. This study therefore explores the aesthetics and importance of Henryk Wieniawski’s violin music, particularly in the light of selected measurable expressive devices in performance. It is informed by literature analysis, recording analysis, musical analysis and reflective practice: (1) The literature analysis contextualises this study by providing a broader understanding. It includes the exploration of both reports from Wieniawski’s performances and other documents contextualising nineteenth-century ideals and concepts of expression. (2) The recording analysis analyses the interpretations of selected early recordings by violinists closely connected with Wieniawski’s musical performance practice, including specific observations facilitated by Sonic Visualizer. (3) The musical analysis briefly identifies the expressive instructions enshrined in the scores, and their implications. (4) The performance aims to explore and demonstrate the findings of this study practically. The outcomes of this study should provide violinists with an improved understanding of Wieniawski’s position in the nineteenth century, while offering suggestions for the performance of his music

The pivotal role of Messiaen’s quartet for the end of time in the establishment of the clarinet-piano quartet genre

Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time played a pivotal role in the development of the clarinet-piano quartet genre. Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time and the subsequent rise of the clarinet-piano quartet genre exemplify a modernist shift in genre identity in twentieth century chamber music. Contributing factors to this identity include the success of professional quartets in performing, promoting, and expanding the repertoire, the quality of work within the genre, and the ability of ensembles who promote this genre to sustain themselves in a changing socioeconomic environment. In this study I examine the different factors of genre identity that relate to the clarinet-piano quartet. These factors include: the problem of genre identity in the twentieth century; a historical account of the development of the clarinet-piano quartet genre from the first performance of Quartet for the End of Time through the work of current professional ensembles; the quality of literature for this genre, represented by the analysis of Toru Takemitsu's Quatrain (1978) and Paul Moravec's Tempest Fantasy (2002); and how this new genre meets the social and economic demands of the current information age. The appendices provided with this study are reference tools designed to help musicians discover works within this genre, and to collect the available literature in one location. They include an annotated list of influential or most recently published quartets, a complete list of all clarinet-piano quartets arranged by composition date, and a list of commissioned quartets organized by their commissioning ensemble

Heuristics for expressive performance

This chapter discusses concepts and terms that professional musicians find useful in preparing for and talking and thinking about expressive performance. An example is “shape,” which, as recent research has shown, is immensely flexible and useful for sharing ideas about how to generate expressive performance without having to specify exactly which sounds might be required. The word is used between musical performers with a high level of mutual understanding, as a way of communicating expressive features that are actually very difficult to articulate in more detail. Further examples of heuristics for musical expression are drawn from a recent interview study of professional musicians, and their implications are discussed. It is argued that this kind of terminology, easily dismissed as superficial or vague, is in fact precisely targeted to the nature of the task and is highly effective in use by musicians

Evaluating the Performance of a New Gestural Instrument Within an Ensemble

This paper discusses one particular mapping for a new gestural instrument called the AirSticks. This mapping was designed to be used for improvised or rehearsed duos and restricts the performer to only utilising the sound source of one other musician playing an acoustic instrument. Several pieces with different musicians were performed and documented, musicians were observed and interviews with these musicians were transcribed. In this paper we will examine the thoughts of these musicians to gather a better understanding of how to design effective ensemble instruments of this type

Principles for designing an effective, post-compulsory music curriculum suitable for Western Australia

A new post-compulsory Music course known as the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Music course was recently introduced into Year 11 and 12 in Western Australian (WA) schools. Following a convoluted process of creation, its implementation into classrooms has been problematic. Given criticism levelled at its process of creation and implementation, the researcher questions whether the WACE Music course embodies effective, recognised principles to support the effective teaching and learning of music. This study investigates the principles which should form the basis of an effective, post-compulsory music curriculum, suitable for WA. It involved a literature review which sought to produce a set of principles for teaching and learning frameworks based upon international best practice in music education, and applicable in the unique geographical, historical and multicultural WA context. In addition, the study employed a researcher–designed survey instrument to examine whether Western Australian music teachers perceived these principles to be evident in their practical experiences of the new WACE music course. With the subsequent publishing of a draft Australian National Arts Curriculum, it is an appropriate time to review the principles which should underpin an effective Music curriculum for senior secondary students in the WA context because, without a clear set of guiding principles that are understood by curriculum writers, there is a possibility that following courses could be fundamentally flawed and not serve the best interests of students