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In the Thread: The "anecdotal" (cinematic) reading
Post Subject: The "anecdotal" (cinematic) readingPosted by Paul S on: 11/24/2007
Today I listened to a CD of Dvorak's 5 & 7 by the Slovak Philharmonic, conducted by (American) Stephen Gunzenhauser in 1989.
The orchestra is better than good, at least for the 5th, and the sound they make can be awesome, despite the poor Naxos CD. Likewise, the conducting on the 5th is "very good", but it also to me begins to illustrate what I am thinking of as a the sort of "anecdotal reading" that causes the 7th on this CD to be a non-starter.
By "anectdotal" I mean a reading that does not seem to construct the parts into a whole so much as it "features" certain parts and voices within the fabric in a way that endows these parts and voices with their own "personalities" and allows them to pop out like certain faces in the window of a passing bus or, worse, like the panned/gathering close-ups of "characters" in Felini films.
I can remember as a child being totally mesmerized the first time I heard/saw Walt Disney's "Fantasia". The music was magnificant and the imagery was just mind-blowing on the big screen. Sure, it was grotesque, but everything just fit together so perfectly. But as the years passed I realized that the price of this experience was higher than I had thought, namely stupid "images" dancing around in my head, not only whenever I heard the Thaikovsky, etc. in question but it can also happen whenever I hear "anecdotal" reading of various symphonies.
What I am wondering is whether modern conductors are actually conscious of the "film legacy" and/or "cinematic potential" of the music they conduct, because it sure sounds to me as if some conductors are so mindful, and several orchestras seem to be +/- "stuck" in the "film genre". I could start a list, but maybe this is just my own private Idaho.
Best regards,
Paul SRerurn to Romy the Cat's Site