{"id":356,"date":"2011-12-18T07:23:14","date_gmt":"2011-12-18T12:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=356"},"modified":"2011-12-18T07:23:14","modified_gmt":"2011-12-18T12:23:14","slug":"toronto-messiahs-remind-that-its-not-what-you-use-to-tell-a-story-that-counts-but-how-you-tell-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2011\/12\/18\/toronto-messiahs-remind-that-its-not-what-you-use-to-tell-a-story-that-counts-but-how-you-tell-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Messiahs remind that it’s not what you use to tell a story that counts, but how you tell it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra Messiahs — the latter concludes today with its sold-out singalong blowout at Massey Hall, the TSO’s final performance<\/a> is Monday night — have made me think again about period versus modern performance.<\/p>\n

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Baroque-style bow and violin, left, to moden. Photo courtesy of Danielle Rosaria Cummins<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

This year, with the help of Nicholas Kraemer, the TSO tried to present a period-perfect version of Handel’s oratorio, using modern forces. Tafelmusik, like many of the finest period-instrument ensembles in the world, has been increasingly leaving period-pure thoughts behind, to explore how much a gut-stringed violin or a valveless horn is really capable of.<\/p>\n

But this year’s dueling Messiahs reminded us of a lesson that so easily gets lost amidst nitpickings and debates: It’s about making a musical story — any<\/em> musical story — as compelling as possible.<\/p>\n

If musicians do that, their listeners won’t question the details — and they will give the connoisseurs plenty to think and debate about.<\/p>\n

The back-page essay in the Winter 2011 issue of Early Music America<\/em><\/a> is about young Japanese violinist Shunsk\u00e9 Sato<\/a> playing Paganini Caprices with gut strings and a “transitional” bow (a bit longer than what you would see Tafelmusik violins using for Messiah, but shorter than a modern bow).<\/p>\n

Comparing this to the typical modern performance, Antony Martin writes, “Perhaps the most salient characteristic is the incorporation of heroics into a broader emotional spectrum than we are used to in these pieces.”<\/p>\n

He means to applaud the period instrument, but what he’s really applauding is the musicality of the interpreter’s work, isn’t he?<\/p>\n

Here’s a bit more on on Sato’s Paganini project, with the help of conductor\/keyboardist Richard Egarr, followed by a performance of a Sonata by Archangelo Corelli:<\/p>\n