Famed pianist Byron Janis has written an insightful article on music performance and interpretation, published in the Wall Street Journal, 1/6/10:
In an interview last April, before his performance of Wagner's "Lohengrin" at London's Covent Garden, the noted opera and orchestral conductor Semyon Bychkov stated: "You start trying to be faithful to a composer's score but great masterpieces give you enormous possibilities for interpretation. You can serve the music without being subservient." The statement of St. Augustine could apply: "Love God and do what you will."
Mr. Bychkov was absolutely correct. Unfortunately, he was expressing a minority view. An oft-heard adage has it that the greatest artists are always faithful to and play only what is written in the score. A somewhat similar sentiment is expressed by the brilliant American musician and music historian Gunther Schuller: "A conductor is the faithful guardian of the score—the score is a sacred document." However, the great Spanish cellist Pablo Casals disagreed: "The art of interpretation is not to play what is written." Our interpretation of what is written cannot, in fact, be written down.
Mr. Bychkov was absolutely correct. Unfortunately, he was expressing a minority view. An oft-heard adage has it that the greatest artists are always faithful to and play only what is written in the score. A somewhat similar sentiment is expressed by the brilliant American musician and music historian Gunther Schuller: "A conductor is the faithful guardian of the score—the score is a sacred document." However, the great Spanish cellist Pablo Casals disagreed: "The art of interpretation is not to play what is written." Our interpretation of what is written cannot, in fact, be written down.
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