The mistaken art
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13997313Parole chiave:
mistakes, performance, analysis, recordings, aestheticsAbstract
This article explores the different ways musical mistakes, memory slips, or missed notes, especially those captured on record – both in studio and from concert performances – have been or could be embraced, celebrated, and even integrated into the aesthetic experience and critical evaluation of the recorded performance. By re-imagining the sonic experience and approaching recorded performances "as they are" (rather than as versions of a score or some ideal), I both re-focus classical music from score to performance, from composer to performer, and from the ephemeral to a reproducible "text," especially since recordings, as a form of mediation, cannot be separated from our experience as listeners.
Riferimenti bibliografici
Abbate, C. (2004), Music—Drastic or Gnostic? Critical Inquiry, 30(3), pp. 505–536.
Bambarger, B. (n.d.). Alfred Cortot (Accessed January 14, 2024). https://www.steinway.com/artists/alfred-cortot
Barolsky, D. (2019). Performers and performances as music history: Moving away from the Margins. In Matthew Balensuela (ed.), The Norton guide to teaching music history. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, pp. 159-171.
Barolsky, D. (2020a). Ernst Levy’s Liszt: Analyzing Analytical Limits (Accessed January 17, 2024) https://smtpaig.wordpress.com/2020/01/28/ernst-levys-liszt-analyzing-analytical-limits/comment-page-1/
Barolsky, D. (2020b). The Pianist in the Recording Studio: Reimagining Interpretation, ed. Graham Griffiths. In Stravinsky in Context. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 187-194.
Barolsky, P. (2015), The Interpretation of Art Is Never Finished: Some Renaissance Examples. Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, 23(2), pp. 197–208.
Benjamin, W. (1968). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In Hannah Arendt (ed.), Harry Zohn (Eng. trans.), Illuminations: Essays and Reflections. Schocken Books, New York, pp. 217-251.
Beaudoin, R. (2024). Sounds as They Are: The unwritten music in classical recordings. Oxford University Press, New York.
Blier-Carruthers, A. (2024). From Stage to Studio: Performances versus Recordings in Classical Music. Routledge, London.
Brendel, A. (2015). Music sense and nonsense: collected essays and lectures. Robson Press, London.
Chopin, F. (1929). Edition de travail des œuvres de Chopin, Vol. 4 (ed. Alfred Cortot). Maurice Senart, Paris.
Cook, N. (2013). Beyond the Score: Music as Performance. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Dent, E. J. (1966). Ferruccio Busoni: A Biography. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Dubal, D. (2000). Reflections from the Keyboard: The World of the Concert Pianist. Schirmer Trade Books, New York.
Gillies, M. & Pear, D. (2007a). Grieg and Grainger: Great Expectations. Musical Times, 148(1900), pp. 7–26.
Gillies M. & Pear D. (2007b). Percy Grainger: Grieg’s Interpreter and Propagator (Keynote Address, International Grieg Society Conference). Accessed January 17, 2024.
https://griegsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Gillies-and-Pear-paper-2007.pdf
Gould, G. (1984a), The grass is always greener in the outtakes: An experiment in listening. In Tim Page (ed.), The Glenn Gould Reader, pp. 357–367.
Gould, G. (1984b). We Who Are About to Be Disqualified Salute You! In Tim Page (ed.), The Glenn Gould Reader, pp. 250-251.
Grainger, P. (1919). Country Gardens, for piano solo. New York, G. Schirmer.
Grainger, P. (1999). Grainger on Music (ed. Malcolm Gillies and Bruce Clunies Ross). Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Grieg, E. (1994). Piano Concerto in Full Score. Dover Publication, Mineola.
Hamilton, A. (2020). The Aesthetics of Imperfection Reconceived: Improvisations, Compositions, and Mistakes. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 78(3), pp. 289–302.
Jones, J. (2017). When Mistakes/Studio Glitches Give Famous Songs Their Personality: Pink Floyd, Metallica, The Breeders, Steely Dan & More. Accessed on January 17, 2024.
https://www.openculture.com/2017/08/when-mistakesstudio-glitches-give-famous-songs-their-personality.html - google_vignette
Knittel, K. M. (1998). Wagner, Deafness, and the Reception of Beethoven's Late Style. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 51, pp. 49–82.
Lange, B. (2018). Archival Silences as Historical Sources. Reconsidering Sound Recordings of Prisoners of War (1915-1918) from the Berlin Lautarchiv. SoundEffects – An Interdisciplinary Journal of Sound and Sound Experience, 7(3), pp. 46–60.
Leech-Wilkinson, D. (2023). Challenging Perfor-mance: Classical Music Performance Norms and How to Escape Them. Version 2.17. Accessed on January 17, 2024.
https://challengingperformance.com/the-book/
McCormick, L. (2015). Performing civility: inter-national competitions in classical music. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
McLellan, J. (1987, December 12). The Sound of Perfection. The Washington Post.
Milner, G. (2009). Perfecting sound forever: an aural history of recorded music (1st ed.). Faber and Faber, New York.
Nachtergaele, S. (2024). Sociomaterial Constructions of the Virtuoso: D. Dragonetti and G. Bottesini. PhD Thesis, McGill University.
Orlov, P. (2022). In Praise of Musical Mistakes. Accessed on January 17, 2024. https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/piotr-orlov-musical-mistakes)
Pope, A. (1711). An Essay on Criticism (Available online at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7409/7409-h/7409-h.htm)
Ravel, M. (1924). Tzigane. Durand et Cie, Paris.
Rubinstein, A. (1973). My Young Years. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Sachs, H. & Manildi, D. (1995). Rubinstein: A Life (1st ed.). Grove Press, New York.
Scott, A. (2023). Performing Recordings/Recording Performances. Accessed on January 17, 2024. https://surrey.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=8af856a2-3bc5-4215-9867-afc400f35bb2 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AOUB3cgLls&list=PLVSrRVv_shXkVwxeInwZ2-V_JEMRVL5b9&index=9
Scott, M. (1998). Adelina Patti: The Queen of Song. Accessed on January 14, 2024. https://www.marstonrecords.com/products/patti
Sowa, C. A. (2019). Percy Grainger’s Free Music Machine: Reimagining the music of the Real World around him. Accessed January 17, 2024. https://percygrainger.org/blog/6987441
Sterne, J. (2012). MP3: The Meaning of a Format. Duke University Press, Durham.
Supper, A. (2018). Listening for the hiss: Lo-fi liner notes as curatorial practices. Popular Music, 37(2), pp. 253–270.
Van Dijk, W., Ouwerkerk, J., Wesseling, Y. & Koningsbruggen, G. (2011). Towards under-standing pleasure at the misfortunes of others: The impact of self-evaluation threat on schaden-freude. Cognition and Emotion, 25, pp. 360–368.
