Tekst Jan. 2018 Leo

- in the Beethoven violin concerto, I've been studying and comparing the role of all first
movement cadenzas (the 6 written by Beethoven1) in the scheme of the movement, with
all of Beethoven's concertant works, and each time they bring out a particular quality of
the movement. In the case of the Violin Concerto, as arranged by Beethoven for piano
and orchestra, with his own cadenza, one can also see this dialogue with the rest of the
movement in that the soloist tries to equal the orchestra's power by repeating the
gesture that led to the cadenza (same as in the c minor piano concerto). Given the fact
that a few musicians have made their own transcription of Beethoven's cadenza for the
op.61a concerto, comparing each one's choices of left out material and developing
material is a good indication for my own version of the cadenza: for example
W.Schneiderhan chooses to keep all arpeggios in the second page, while Kremer (in an
edition published this year), tries to keep things concise in this section, by restraining
the range of arpeggios. If I agree with Kremer's choice of serving the instrument's range,
however the accompaniment he provides to the "marcia" section of the cadenza is
clashing with the general style of the piece (in that it includes woodwinds along with the
original timpani). Beethoven's use of the timpani solo (as in the 5th piano concerto's
Rondo, but here more expansively) is striking enough to not needing to add other
instruments. Furthermore, the inclusion of extra instruments breaks off the immersion
that is provided by a cadenza, and the timpani is enough of an "extra-musical" presence
(in reference to military bands) to not be too strange in a cadenza. The solo part, as
Beethoven had originally conceived it, seems to have a more developed rhythmical side,
in that it uses more recurrent figures than the more ornamented versions we have come
to know.
- concerning Feldman, I've read during the holidays Eco's "Kant and the platypus" which
deals with a number of aspects related to perception of forms - how we pick out aspects
of an object to direct our attention to its becoming? Basing himself on the works of
Pierce (which I've also started doing), he adresses the issue of recognition of objects and
forms. The categorization of signals (signals as structural point, outside of the musical
organization) is something I've come to find in Feldman, in that he uses the page itself as
a map and includes "parenthesis" episodes designed to alter and turn the perception
toward a new instrument (p57 59 pianos and harp, score to follow). Following Pierce's
table of firstness, secondness and thirdness, in correlation to signal, occurence, and
application, Feldman's integration of musical elements follows a clear path: straight
from perception (Kant's perceptive judgment) to behavior/habit (the last step of the
table), which means that an object is integrated in the matrix of development as soon as
it is produced. With feldman, perception and production seem therefore to be very
closely related. On a more conceptual point, Feldman I think saw a complementary
relationship between written and aural sign, just as the jewish language, in its written
and spoken iterations, becomes complete by way of both, one providing structural
elements (consonants), and the spoken language the vowels as expression of God's
breath.
Since I'm currently studying "Violin and Orchestra", I've found several sections which
are only made out of "confused" scales: scales with renamed notes, with G double flat for
F etc. I have a couple of theories about this, but am still wondering whether it is
performer-oriented or listener-oriented: is it here to keep the attention of the
1 For the 4 first piano concerti and the violin concerto. The Fifth piano concerto, op.73 specifically
doesn't and shouldn't have a cadenza, as Beethoven writes over the fermata m.497 “Non si fa una
Cadenza, ma s'attacca subito il seguente”. The sixth work is the Choral Fantasia, op.80 – the beginning
section is an improvisation that Beethoven performed at the premiere in 1808, and subsequently
wrote down.
performer, or should there actually be a difference between G double flat and F? I need
to find out what were Feldman's views on pitch bending, variation of notation, and
performativity. There is already been some work done on this, by Marc Sabat in 2004,
when he notated with microtonal markings Feldman's alterations in an unpublished solo
violin work, spiraling more and more into smaller units of difference. A lot of the smaller
units of "Violin and Orchestra" are worked out using what I'd call "ars combinatoria",
using pivot notes and combinations of pitch (often unchanging in an instrumental line)
and silence - and my theory is that this very surface work is in fact the substance of the
whole work, that it permeates Feldman's desire of a structure not unlike that of an
iranian carpet. While it would seem that Feldman's music making is opposite to
interpretation, in that it requires a regularity, a clinical perfection so that dialogue is
established through the clarity of figures, I believe he encourages the opposite, by
obtuse markings vivifying the performer's imagination at key points using irrational
metric relationships or extended pitch notation, strange relationships which create a
sense of unity and separation from the bigger picture of the work (each smaller unit
having its matrix). By developing in a very localized manner, the composer tries to make
us think differently within a work, to give importance to different parameters.
I intend to send you more a list of more aspects I will be studying in the following month
Best regards,
leo

Tekst Jan. 2018 Leo

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- in the Beethoven violin concerto, I've been studying and comparing the role of all first

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