Which works are a joy no matter who interprets them?

Started by Mark, September 10, 2007, 12:56:50 PM

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Mark

I'm not sure how many of you will agree with me on this, but I find there are some pieces - large and small - that seem immune to ruination no matter who interprets them. I'm thinking of works like Ravel's String Quartet in F (I've heard and loved five different recordings), and Beethoven's Fourth Symphony (12 recordings heard, not a dud among them).

Can you think of any others, supposing you agree with me at all? And if you do agree, what is it that makes some works less prone to sounding so very different, despite being played by so many different performers?

carlos

To me,no work can by a joy when it's badly played. A lousy interpretation ruin any piece. For example, Prokofieff's piano Tocatta
is a marvelous piece, but played by Martha, at 30 notes per second.
loose any sense and it's pure s... IMHO.
Piantale a la leche hermano, que eso arruina el corazón! (from a tango's letter)

BachQ

I can usually find some kernel of delight in every interpretation of Cage 4'33 which I've encountered .......

DavidW

I agree with Carlos.  Could you think of any work that you would enjoy if played by say a three year old on trash can lids with a hammer? ;D

Mark

Quote from: DavidW on September 10, 2007, 02:59:42 PM
I agree with Carlos.  Could you think of any work that you would enjoy if played by say a three year old on trash can lids with a hammer? ;D

Macmillan's 'Veni, Veni Immanuel'?


;D

Bogey

Sorry to get off track a bit lot, but is that a young Richard Nixon in your avatar Carlos? :D



He actually played one as a kid:

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

George

Have any of the - ahem - "tapes" of those early performances sufaced?  ;D

Bogey

Quote from: George on September 10, 2007, 06:12:26 PM
Have any of the - ahem - "tapes" of those early performances sufaced?  ;D

Now that was clever....well done.

As far as we know only the composer John Adams has access to these.  ;)
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Keemun

Quote from: Bogey on September 10, 2007, 06:09:53 PM
Sorry to get off track a bit lot, but is that a young Richard Nixon in your avatar Carlos? :D



Quite a striking resemblance.  :D  (I think it's Leonid Kogan.)
Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. - Ludwig van Beethoven

carlos

OK, OK, you force me to change it. ;D There's great Toscha,
one of the most vibrating and powerfull sounds on any
violinist past or present.
Piantale a la leche hermano, que eso arruina el corazón! (from a tango's letter)

hautbois

Quote from: Mark on September 10, 2007, 12:56:50 PM
I'm not sure how many of you will agree with me on this, but I find there are some pieces - large and small - that seem immune to ruination no matter who interprets them. I'm thinking of works like Ravel's String Quartet in F (I've heard and loved five different recordings), and Beethoven's Fourth Symphony (12 recordings heard, not a dud among them).

Beethoven 4th yes! And anything by Mendelssohn that i have already heard of seems to be much pleasing when done at the right tempo, which is mostly apparent. (Fast and furious!)

Howard

karlhenning

I'm very nearly inclined to say the Shostakovich Fifth;  I've only heard one genuine turkey.  Apart from that one outlier, the piece well sustains a variety of approach.

hornteacher

Quote from: DavidW on September 10, 2007, 02:59:42 PM
I agree with Carlos.  Could you think of any work that you would enjoy if played by say a three year old on trash can lids with a hammer? ;D

Or in my case, a middle school band. ;)