Re: composers playing their own concertos (was GG hagiography)

[Jean-Christophe PONSERO <ponserj2@YAHOO.FR>]

Hi everybody!

Let me just express my personal opinion on composers playing their own
music.

I think the only advantage a composer has when he interprets his works is
legitimacy. Especially if he's making the first performance of the work. No
one can say his intentions are the wrong ones and he's betraying the
composer. BUT that does not mean his performance is good at all.

We all know examples of composers interpreting their works poorly, either
because they lacked technical skill to convey their ideas to an instrument
or an orchestra, or because they hadn't understood all the possibilities in
their music. Ravel's interpretation of his own concertos is not as good as
Zimerman's or Samson François', some of you have mentioned Prokofiev,
Poulenc... However Rachmaninov played his own music very well and Boulez
conducts his wonderfully. This shows that the composer's advantage is only
legal, he might have the legal right (copyright) of forbidding any other
interpretation than his own, but that's about all.

I've mentioned legitimacy, but actually this is only theoretical. Great
works are no longer the property of their composer and go far beyond his
initial intentions. If the composer is a good performer, then we should get
an essential (and legitimate) interpretation from him. eg Rachmaninov. But
we are fortunate that other extraordinary interpretations exist, by
Horowitz, Byron Janis, Ashkenazy or lately Hélène Grimaud, just to mention a
few. In these examples, respect of the text is sometimes not a priority
(Horowitz), but IT ALSO WORKS! Another example to illustrate that some
liberty might be taken with respect to the score: Beethoven's sonatas can be
as enjoyable with incredibly fast tempi (Schnabel) or with incredibly slow
ones (Arrau, Gould in Hammerklavier). Arrau is often cited as totally
obsessed by the score, but his tempi are illegitimate and prove that by
ignoring the composer's wishes/commands, even the best is possible.

My point is that once composed, a work becomes something totally independent
left to history, which is already enjoyable as such by reading, but which
needs to match an player's inner world and technical abilities in order to
produce one of its full embodiments in the form of an interpretation.
Obviously the whole of the composer's intentions cannot be indicated on the
score. And any thouroughly literal interpretation without a sense of
interpretation is a catastrophy.

There is no truth about a musical work. There are probably mistakes not to
be made, but no single right way. I tend to consider interpretations as
variations. Everything is potentially contained in the original score, but
this great initial, contingent basis still needs to be fertilized by a
player.

I believe the historical approach such as the baroque revolution over the
last 30 years is a good thing because it widens the scope of our knowledge.
But, as wild tribes can teach us a lot about human nature, someone very
little influenced by history who would produce a very personal vision of a
work can be as enriching. So all artists should be FREE to play how they
please, and not fear the composer. The good interpretation requires a kind
of resonance between the composer and the performer. Whether it comes from
life (eg when Messiaen's wife and her sister, Yvonne and Jeanne Loriod,
played Messiaen) or from historical study or from the uneducated empathy for
a score, I don't mind. What matters is that this resonance happens, and
lifetime connections alone are no sufficient condition for that.

I love it when performers strive to collect information from the composer
when he's still alive. There are very interesting collaborations for
instance between French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Boulez, between
Dutilleux or Ligeti and young performers. This form of dialog is good both
for the composer and the player. It is historically essential but it is not
the only way.

Jean-Christophe

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