Re: GG: Letter to Krastins (Jan. 3, 1963)

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

On Mon, 1 Jun 1998, Richard Vallis wrote:

> This    phrase:  the plateau concept of Bach's music,  would appear to
> be a reference to the term "terraced dynamics" used in some texts to
> describe the alternation of loud and soft in Baroque music.  This
> layering approach (without crescendo or diminuendo) was  typical of the
> alternation of tutti and solo in the concerto.  My guess is that GG was
> saying the piano is capable of several dynamic layers, whereas the
> harpsichord is limited in this respect.

This answer gets my vote.  In one of the Bruno M. films, GG plays part of
the Italian Concerto and refers to the fact that, when played on the
piano, one must make some decisions about how to deal with this "plateau"
of dynamics that Bach actually wrote into this particular work.  He comes
to the conclusion that you don't want to use too much of what the piano
"naturally" has to offer (ie: hairpin dynamics, etc.), in order to keep to
the spirit of the solo/tutti alternations of piano vs. forte dynamic
levels.  He then contrasts this with an excerpt from (I think) the
Sarabande of the E minor Partita, where he "milks" the piano for all the
emotional nuance it can provide and says that to do anything else with
that piece would be to unnaturally reign in the expressive potential of
the composition.

jh