7/28/2019 Why Play Bach on an Antique Flute

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/why-play-bach-on-an-antique-flute 1/2

ick here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 16, Number 23, June 2, 1989

© 1989 EIR News Service Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission strictly prohibited.

Wy ply Bh

tqu fut?

by  

J h F John Solum. Baroque Flute; Igor Kipnis.Harpsichord; Barbara Bgatin. Barque 'Celabesque. 1988

ompact disk-CDZ6589; Cassette-ABQC6589

The Bach sonatas for ute form th centerpiec of the cham eeoire for ute. Evey seious utist whether professona or amateur will work on thes piecs, agin and gain,houghout his crr. I would urg tht you listn to theserecordings, and perhaps compar them to othr recordings of te same pieces, for thr rsons.

Frst, because Bach's poetry can only b properly broughtout on instruments which re themslves bsd on th princes of cassical aesthetics. Second, lthough this prformance vaies greatly in quality, ther is lawfulnss to tht

viation. Third, because th bttr sctions of th rcordinabout halfwil give you the rr opporunity to hr Bach performed very well.

Most persons are under the impression tht the only reson to use period instruments in performing baroque or classca music, is som nti-technoogical "serch for authentict , in which the musicians sek to void the "grt improveents of mode instruments for the simple lif of the past.Nohng could b urhr frm th uth, s this rcordingcou ove a by itself.

n fact, he revoution in insrumental design which occued over the past 1 years, is an integrl part of mov

ment to destroy classical sthetic vlues whos othr feates included the systematic raising of concrt pitch from itsscentc vaue of C = 6 (A= 4) to the mode vlues of A= to 446

M t is tue that mode instumnts as mor efcint

acoustica resonators, yild louder sound lvels. It is lso tuat they provide srict equal tmperament of scles andsooth out he difrences in quality betwen one not andte next. Howver, this is not n dvntg; rthr, ths

58 Reviews

changs hv ctd to crt "vlu fr instrumnts ppropriate to xistntial twlv-ton music, or orgistic 00-manperformncs of th works of Hitlr's fvorit composr,Richrd Wgnr. This is most vidnt in th rplcmnt of the classical fortpino of Bthovn's tim, with t mode, met-frmd pinofort, nd t rplcmnt of thebaroque and cssical uto trvrso with th ohm ut.

As an mtur utist, this rviwr s rcntly mdethe switch, from mode silvr ut, to 19th-cnturywoodn ut. I hv hd rst-hnd opporunity to hr ndse the gret diffrncs in ths instrumnts. On t older instrumnt, vry not hs its own individul chrctr. Theravrso is built round th ky of  D jor; ll of th notesof tht scl hv rltivly opn nd brigt ton. h inbetwn nots (including C-nturl nd -nturl) v amuch drkr sound. Th difrnc is somting lik theffct of vrious vowls in singing.

Th rsult is that vry ky signtur, with its own sequence of tons, hs n bsolutly uniqu qulity. ch wasvry muc wre o this nd his sonts for ut wr com

posd with this in mind. Whrs on th mod ut, onecould tak pic writn in th ky o minor, nd trnsposeit up on hlf stp, to C minor with littl nt ct (botheqully boring), similr chng on t trvrso would beth quivlnt of totlly rwriting th pic.

I w pWhn I rcntly intrviewd John Solu, t utist on

th Arbsqu recording, I skd im o wnt bout

D W 18 f

EIR June , 1989

7/28/2019 Why Play Bach on an Antique Flute

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/why-play-bach-on-an-antique-flute 2/2

dtg th phrsg fr pc H sid, "Th rstthig, s tt th strumt tlls yu hw t phrs r xmpl, wh thr s mdult [trspsiti f thmtic mtrl t w ky], thr is t just shift f rgistr, ut ls shi qulity

thr uqu prprty f th ldr ut s its vstlysuprr cplty fr rtcult: th ilty f th utst

t dvdully shp th vlum d durti f vry twthi phrs Th lt scitst rthur Bd ws ctullyl t shw, wth lrtry msurmts, tht th lowe

custicl fccy f th ldr ut mt tht ts culd strtd d stppd t lst twc s fst s th mdut upulishd ppr, Bd strgly criticizdThld Bhms 847 rdsig f th ut, frm ciclt cylidricl gmtry, lmig Bhms "itllctulmtcism fr dgrdig th ptc cpltis f thistrumt

mg thr thgs, ths ms tht th ldr ut scpl f mimickig th phrsg f strig strumts, thhrpschrd, r th hum vic Ths ttlly chgs thwy which th� ut wrks withi sml If yucmpr th SluKps/Bgt rcrdig t prfcs md istrumts, yu will hr this vry clrly,v i yu d t hv y muscl trig O th rigilstrumts, th sml fucts s whl, whil thmd srumts yu smply hr "ut with ccmpimt

Slu's cdigThis rcrdg ctis six sts Thr (B mir, A

jr, t jr) wr wrtt y Bch fr "ut dhrpschrd lgt, whch ms tht Bch cmpsdth tr hrpschrd prt Th thr thr ( mir, Cr, jr) r fr "ut d ss ctiu Thisms tht Bch spplid th ut prt, ss li, d"gurs (umrs) whch idict th mi ts t ppr i hrpsichrd pr t s lft t th hrpschrdist t wrk utd prvs th hrpschrd prt, prcss clld "rlizt

Th fct f this f wrtg is tht it frcs thesml t cutr d slv th prlms f crssvicg, thus prtcptg dirctly th cmpsrs crtivprcss Ts rsult c hrd vvdly ths rcrdig,whr th ctu sts vrw wth lf, uty, d

humr (fr mr s th th lgt sts, lthugh thlttr clud th B mr st, f Bchs grt wrks chmr musc)

gr Kpss rlizts r fr suprr t y thrs 1

hv cm crss rcrdigs r prt wuld curgehm t pulsh pprpritly dtd vrss Kipiss plyg s y d wl prsd, s th usul mchcl pprch f mst hrpsichrdists

h Slums plyg, t ts st, s tchiclly rilltd pticlly supr Ths is prtty much th cs thrughut th thr sts with ctiu

EIR u , 989

Lotte Lehmann

Cenennial

1888 Album 1988

Fy�four newly discoved coings withcommentary by Madame Lehmann,

accompanied by Paul Ulanowsky m 4

 Columbia dio tscriptions. Songs by Beethoven Bhms, Mendelshn,

Moz Schube SchumannR Stuss Waner Wolf 

$23.953·reco set includes shippinghandling

Make check/money oer payable to

LOE LEHMANN ARCHIVES,o Univei ibrian Univeity of Calfoia

Santa Barba C 9310

TreasonIn America

om Aaron Bto Avere Haan

60 pages; published by New Benjamin Franklin House,ew Yrk. Order from: Ben Franklin ooksellers, Inc,2 Suth Kin St., Leesbur, VA lusshppin ($. 50 fr rst bok, fr each additinalbk). ul rates available.

eviws 9