ARTS
Music
Unburst bubbles
Peter Phillips
Istill have very little idea whether 'early music' is a topic of general interest to the intelligentsia; or indeed what is meant by the term. I think it refers not so much to a repertoire of music as to a manner of performance. This would explain why Beet- hoven is sometimes presented as 'early mu- sic' and sometimes not. When he is being early it means that the orchestra is playing on instruments which some hidden but god-like figure has decided were current in Beethoven's time and that the number of them is equivalent to a known performance (though which one? And why that one?). When he is being mainstream it means that the orchestra in question will just plough on as usual, regardless. I suppose that pre- baroque music is all irretrievably early, however it is performed, though as every year goes by what is considerd main- stream repertoire comprehends earlier and earlier composers, while what is presented in authentic performances (and is therefore by definition early) comes ever nearer to the 20th century. It's all very confusing, but I think it must add up to a healthy state of things, since more and more music is
being performed in a greater variety of ways and new names are even being added to that household list which not long ago consisted largely of German symphonists and Italian opera writers.
This current fascination for the authentic sound of music from previous centuries is centred on instruments. The science of the sound of voices follows rather reluctantly behind, principally because there are no voice-boxes lying around to be redis- covered and reanimated, so that ultimately everything is guesswork; but also because choral music was not actually in need of the early-music revival. At least in church, sacred music of the Renaissance has been sung without interruption from that time to our own, while madrigals have long been a favourite of glee clubs and other such gatherings of empty-headed people who feel like a discordant frolic. The only ges- tures that performers of Renaissance cho- ral music can make towards authenticity is to try to present it with roughly the right number of singers and try not to allow too many opera-derived vocal mannerisms to come into their voices. After that it is per- missible to abandon oneself to the spirit of the music, and just get on with it. It's a great relief.
This difference between the instrumen- tal and the vocal approach to authenticity struck me as forcibly as ever last week du- ring the Utrecht Early Music Festival. This must count as the biggest annual pile-up of this brand of performer in the world, and there is no doubt that there is a large public to support it Concerts are held at all times of the day and night, so that, for instance, on 6 September there were events at 10 00, 11 00, 12 45, two at 15 00, two at 17 00, and one at 17 15, 20 00, 22 30 and 22 45. This does not take into account the four concerts on the fringe that day. Why such a festival can be held in Utrecht and not in London, where so many of the participa- ting groups are based, is not clear. As always, the performers went around in their bubbles of self-contained activity, and this polarisation may again have helped conceal from us all the fundamental diffe- rences in approach which I have just outli- ned. For example, it is still perfectly accep- table for the Hilliard Ensemble to sing Byrd's Masses with one voice to a part, for the Tallis Scholars to sing them with two voices to a part, and for the King's Cam- bridge choir to sing them with at least four men to a part and countless numbers of boys. So long as there is not too much vibrato in the voices, all these perfor- mances pass as authentic. Yet a group of instrumentalists add or take away players at the risk of • banishment from the early music movement. I wonder whether these instrumentalists are really free to abandon themselves to the spirit of the music, and whether it would not be better if they didn't sometimes just get on with it.
The streets of Utrecht were full of bubbles last week, and rarely did they burst. The number of them was increased this year by having a load of academics brought in specially to discuss whether a predetermined set of pieces was by Josquin des Pres or not. No doubt they would have got along perfectly happily by themselves if it had not been decided that the vocal en- sembles present should perform some of these doubtful pieces, alongside real Jos- quin, in concert. The original idea was to have a show of hands from the audience after the performance to say whether Jos- quin could possibly have written it all. In the end the conductors of the ensembles were simply asked to report to the acade- mics with their own conclusions. Having conducted the Tallis Scholars through one of the least varied concert programmes
"We'll gel nowhere without a video.' known to man, I then had to stand up in front of a row of beaks and say things like, `Well, we just feel this can't be by Josquin.' Beaks eat that sort of line for breakfast. I stared at them from inside my bubble, and they stared back from theirs. Perhaps all reforming movements proceed in this un- communicative way.
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