Chen Halevi Plays Bruno Mantovani's BUG

Wow !

Category:

Music

Tags:

• clarinet
• chen
• halevi
• Bruno
• Mantovani
• Bug

[kkrylovskiy]

Just wanted to say that the "epileptic R2D2 on crack" analogy is simply genius! LOL. I do like the performance, however.

[MstislavSienkievich]

Sorry, but I think the piece escapes reduction into such a narrative form. Mantovani wrote the piece as a representation of a computer breakdown, i.e. the Y2K frenzy. He wrote it in 1999, and published it in 2000 par Henry Lemoine. Granted that, your "epileptic R2D2" is quite appropriate :) Chen does a good job. I have the score and MAN does his articulation blow me away!

[Sherbrick]

@clairannette Well, if it's all there in the score like you seemed to be arguing earlier, then no performer would be doing things that you couldn't conjure, fathom, imagine, uncover, or realize for yourself. But maybe it isn't all there set in stone in the score... and thus, great performers (like Chen Halevi in this video) are indeed giving me new ideas and inspiration!

Thanks for the discussion.

[clairannette]

@Sherbrick Not sure what you're getting at with this last response but... I go to other performances to find inspiration and perhaps extract/learn from ideas far beyond those I could ever conjure up, fathom, imagine, uncover or realize for myself. Generally those are performances I pay a lot of money to go hear and, in turn, are the kind of performances I get paid to give.

[clairannette]

@Sherbrick I am not all too certain that what was added or missing or railroaded here contributes to enhancing the overall integrity of the work.

[Sherbrick]

@clairannette It would be really boring if everyone played a song in exactly the same way. Once you'd heard a piece, why bother going to other performances of it? Why not just get a recording?

People aren't machines, and ought not to behave as such. No self-respecting artist would allow his or herself to become a machine.

[Sherbrick]

@clairannette ...if the player has carefully analyzed the score, played the piece through many times accurately, and reflected upon the overall effect of the piece, that player should (in my view of the subject) have the liberty to say "hmmm, I think perhaps adding this particular nuance here, or a slight shift of style there might enhance the overall effect of this piece as I see it." ONLY with careful consideration with respect to the overall integrity of the work should this be done.

[Sherbrick]

@clairannette If you want to call it a business, then yes, I am assuming you're talking about earning money, which is why I replied as I did. If the goal is instead to study and perform in a strictly academic setting, in which one will be subject primarily to the critical review of peers, then one would obviously make every effort to study the score and play it just as specified. However...

[clairannette]

@Sherbrick For example, if BM writes for you to hold a note for 7 seconds, then rest on the fermata for 5 more seconds, then what on earth gives any performer reason to exercise his/her artistic liberty to play it for 4 seconds and rest for 2? Or make an explicit 0,5 second rest into 2 seconds? Or if he asks to fade from fff to ff, why decide you like it better if you fade fff to niente rather than ff, when there are specific markings for that in other places?

[clairannette]

@Sherbrick Yes, it's a given. All the more reason to consider grounding or objectifying your artistic decisions in the "text" (i.e. unambiguous or indisputable elements of the score) in the event someone comes along with a dissenting or perhaps shallow view of what exactly those decisions were in respect of the composer. You'll see this surface in, perhaps, international competitions. Style is cultural - but some basics are indisputable (time markings, for example - BM was very specific!)

[clairannette]

@Sherbrick Friends and colleagues of mine would likely state the contrary re: Stravinsky. That's a discussion for another year.

As for your question concerning the biz: this is a presumptive question unworthy of an answer. It is crafted under the assumption that the end game is only to gain an audience and earn money (pop culture is self-indulgent & egotistical). To suggest doing this while disrespecting the wishes of the creator is preposterous. No self-respecting artist would ever allow this.