Product Description

The attempt to play music with the styles and instruments of its era--commonly referred to as the early music movement--has become immensely popular in recent years. For instance, Billboard's "Top Classical Albums" of 1993 and 1994 featured Anonymous 4, who sing medieval music, and the best-selling Beethoven recording of 1995 was a period-instruments symphony cycle led by John Eliot Gardiner, who is Deutsche Grammophon's top-selling living conductor. But the movement has generated as much controversy as it has best-selling records, not only about the merits of its results, but also about the validity of its approach. To what degree can we recreate long-lost performing styles? How important are historical period instruments for the performance of a piece? Why should musicians bother with historical information? Are they sacrificing art to scholarship?
Now, in Inside Early Music, Bernard D. Sherman has invited many of the leading practitioners to speak out about their passion for early music--why they are attracted to this movement and how it shapes their work. Readers listen in on conversations with conductors Gardiner, William Christie, and Roger Norrington, Peter Phillips of the Tallis Scholars, vocalists Susan Hellauer of Anonymous 4, forte pianist Robert Levin, cellist Anner Bylsma, and many other leading artists. The book is divided into musical eras--Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classic and Romantic--with each interview focusing on particular composers or styles, touching on heated topics such as the debate over what is "authentic," the value of playing on period instruments, and how to interpret the composer's intentions. Whether debating how to perform Monteverdi's madrigals or comparing Andrew Lawrence-King's Renaissance harp playing to jazz, the performers convey not only a devotion to the spirit of period performance, but the joy of discovery as they struggle to bring the music most truthfully to life. Spurred on by Sherman's probing questions and immense knowledge of the subject, these conversations movingly document the aspirations, growing pains, and emerging maturity of the most exciting movement in contemporary classical performance, allowing each artist's personality and love for his or her craft to shine through.
From medieval plainchant to Brahms' orchestral works, Inside Early Music takes readers-whether enthusiasts or detractors-behind the scenes to provide a masterful portrait of early music's controversies, challenges, and rewards.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1352958 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-09
• Released on: 2003-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.com Review
"This is an issue that recurs throughout early music: how far should (and can) we go toward the past, as opposed to trying to bring it toward us?" In practical terms, how far should we go in attempting to re-create the specific conditions (instruments, vocal techniques, scoring, pitch, etc.) of the time, as opposed to using the most up-to-date media available or making compromises between the two extremes? This fundamental question--with the many different ways in which musicians answer it and the controversies that result--is what makes "Historically Informed Performance" (HIP) the most interesting (in the sense, perhaps, of that ancient Chinese curse?) and dynamic field in classical music today. Bernard D. Sherman's "conversations with performers" illuminate these topics in a way that most scholars can't, and most music magazines don't have space for.

Sherman is a superb interviewer: well informed, thoughtful, respectful without being sycophantic. In his written introductions to each interview, he is frank about where he stands on contentious issues but lets the performers speak for themselves: for example, Barbara Thornton of Sequentia and Christopher Page of Gothic Voices on singing the text "expressively" in medieval music (they're closer together than one might expect), or Alan Curtis, Rinaldo Alessandrini, and Anthony Rooley on whether one must be Italian to sing Monteverdi properly (they're not).

Even Sherman's chapter titles are enticing--and they give a good idea of the treats his book has to offer: "You Can't Sing A Footnote: Susan Hellauer [of Anonymous 4] on Performing Medieval Music"; "Triple Counterpoint: Jeffrey Thomas, Philippe Herreweghe and John Butt on Singing Bach"; "Speaking Mozart's Lingo: Robert Levin on Mozart and Improvisation." We read Marcel Pérès explaining why he has used Greek, Corsican, and Middle Eastern singers in his revivals of chant repertories; Julianne Baird on Baroque singing techniques; Roger Norrington on taking Beethoven "off the pedestal"; and John Eliot Gardiner on period-instrument Berlioz and Brahms. These thoughtful, articulate musicians--and Sherman's considerable skills as journalist, critic, and guide to the reader--make this book a delight for early-music neophytes and mavens alike. It should even hold some interest for those who dislike everything "HIP" stands for. --Matthew Westphal

From Library Journal
For a reader steeped in the early-music revival, this is a book of unparalleled interest. It bristles with sharply defined positions and passionate arguments, all of them expressed with clarity and augmented by the author's insightful and well-informed reflections. The time period and repertory covered stretches from the early Medieval chant to the works of Brahms. A journalist specializing in early music, Sherman has avoided the temptation to present only one side of contentious issues?and there are many?or to attempt to reconcile divergent views. He addresses these fascinating topics through interviews with some of the best-known performers in the field, having chosen those with interesting things to say and stimulated them with thought-provoking questions. For most music collections.?Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Sherman is an excellent writer and a modest intuitive interviewer. A truly delightful book."--Early Music America
"Excellent...The teeming practical detail of this book is a great achievement in itself, but equally significant is its documentation of the major conceptual issues behind the historical-performance movement"--Anthony Pryer, The Times Literary Supplement
"Inside Early Music is an outstanding achievement. Bernard Sherman has managed to give a broad overview of current trends in historical performance while at the same time focusing on enough of the interesting details and current hot topics to give the book an unexpected depth. He achieves this through his thoughtful selection of interviewees, each discussing his or her own area of specialization, and also through his probing questions."--Continuo
"A book of unparalleled interest. It bristles with sharply defined positions and passionate arguments, all of them expressed with clarity and augmented by the author's insightful and well-informed reflections." --Timothy J. McGee, Library Journal
"I can't imagine a better book of its kind."--Richard Taruskin, author of Text and Act and Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions
"Inside Early Music is a fascinating book, and not just for readers with an interest in early music. Sherman's pointed interviews with opinionated people, and his lucid introduction and postscripts, offer considerable insight into questions about the nature of art, the nature of human nature, and some of the great intellectual controversies of our time."--Steven Pinker, author of The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works