classical music interpretation and phrasing — theoperaatelier.com

Daniel Daroca pianist pedagogue career consultant Popular culture tends to dumb down everything: everything must be done fast; so artists have no time to develop. At times, guest soloists may have but one rehearsal for the performance of a concerto with the orchestra. There is little time left for musical interpretation, artistic characterization, concept or phrasing. Opera stars sometimes arrive in town hours before a performance, while rehearsals may be led by the assistant conductor. The star conductor makes a grand entrance then at the last minute. No wonder that so much music making proves generic. Just making sure of keeping time with an occasional ritardando seems to be enough. In contrast, great artistic collaborations, such as Callas-Serafin, Callas-Visconti  or Sutherland-Bonynge, which developed over many years, produced artistic results of the highest caliber.  So much for the fast-food approach to music making! Donnington reminds us that “phrases are molded by various means, which may include a dynamic rise and fall, a suggestion of a rallentando, etc. They are separated by a silence of phrasing which ranges from scarcely perceptible to very conspicuous”. But there seems to be no time for such niceties. “The machining of orchestral conductors”, to use Mr. Cantrell’s apt phrase, leaves little room for that….

Read More