How to Play Masterclass 2

Baffled by a score lacking in dynamic markings or pedalling suggestions? Fear not: Graham Fitch introduces you to the world of historically informed performance practice

The printed score is but a starting point for our own performance, says Graham Fitch

When we open a score, we may encounter an array of different types of dynamic and articulation markings telling us how the notes are to be played – or none at all, depending on the style period. If we play the notes from an Urtext score of a Baroque piece literally, through 21st-century eyes, the music is going to sound very dull and empty. This is because composers of this period left most of the performance decisions to the good taste of the performer, who would have known what to do. We pianists have been schooled on music from Beethoven onwards, where the composer has stipulated everything scrupulously in the score. If we are going to play Baroque and Classical period music convincingly, we need to have a little knowledge of performance practices so we can make some informed decisions about dynamics, phrasing, articulation, and pedalling appropriate to our modern instruments. In this article I have picked some examples of music from different style periods to illustrate how we might interpret some of the markings we find in the score, or what we might need to do in the absence of such indications.

Baroque colouring

Let’s start with some Bach, and the Sarabande from the English Suite No 2 in A minor BWV 807. [The score appeared inside issue 118.]

Texture is often a good indicator of dynamics. The opening two bars of this Sarabande are fairly rich, suggesting a dynamic of mp-mf. The denser chords in bar 3 would create more sound on a harpsichord, so it would be appropriate to open up to an expansive mf-f. The next phrase, with just one note in each hand, implies something softer – perhaps a duo between violin and a cello starting p and getting louder towards the top of the phrase when more voices are added.

Another stylistic matter that needs our consideration is the arpeggiation of chords. It was such common practice for harpsichord players to arpeggiate chords that composers hardly notated it. Bach’s arpeggiation mark in bar 3 probably indicates a broader spread, but any chord may be arpeggiated. Experiment with how fast or slow you make each spread, holding onto the notes of the chord by hand.

The double of the Sarabande (which we might play on the repeats) is a superb example of a written-out embellishment of the sort a harpsichordist from the period would be expected to improvise. It is stylistic to add more ornamentation than notated and to vary this on the repeats, but do some homework on what sort of ornaments to use. For example, the wavy line ornament m

is often played incorrectly. In Bach’s music (and other music from the French and German Baroque) this indicates either a long or a short trill that starts on the upper note (and is played on the beat). Comprising a minimum of four notes, we may linger on the first note if we want a more expressive ornament. In Scarlatti’s music, it is possible to realise this sign as a threenote ornament starting on the main note (referred to in later periods as an inverted mordent). The opening of the D major Sonata K491 [Scores, p50], might be played either way.

An important stylistic consideration when playing Baroque music is how we come up with a variety of touches and articulations that are not marked in the score. According to most authorities, non-legato was the default keyboard touch up until the end of the 18th century: notes not marked with slurs or staccatos should receive half their value. On modern instruments a prevailing non-legato style tends to sound contrived and pedantic, so a mix of touches (and dynamics) is more appropriate – and more interesting. Unmarked notes in music of the Baroque period may be freely articulated depending on circumstance and taste – touch varies between extreme legato (overholding, or finger pedalling) and staccato, with all degrees of separation and connectedness in between. Use of pedals in Baroque music is often hotly debated, but the vast majority of Bach pianists do use pedal discreetly. Use it sparingly and lightly for resonance, but not for legato, practising regularly with none. The soft pedal is also a possibility, perhaps on certain repeats, echoes or when we require a muted effect.

The greatest Scarlatti interpreters on the piano display a huge

range of colour and variety in phrasing, touch and dynamics. Surely this should encourage us to be imaginative, creative and bold in our interpretative choices, always playing pianistically and expressively, never grey! In his recording of the D major Sonata K491, Horowitz uses pedal very sparingly (occasionally blending together the notes of the LH broken chord patterns), colouring his sound with sudden (and occasionally extreme) dynamic contrasts. When the second theme appears at bar 19 he plays pp; when it comes back at bar 62 he produces a massive ff (a startling effect).

Classical textures and Romantic phrasing

When it comes to the pedal in the Classical period, short and shallow dabs help to add colour and resonance to our sound. Use the pedal judiciously, taking care not to muddy thinner textures or obscure the finger articulation. Mozart left no pedal markings whatsoever, and the only two pedal markings we find in Haydn’s piano music are in the first movement of the C major ‘English’ Sonata, Hob.XVI:50. Beethoven notated only ‘special’ pedals, leaving ordinary pedals up to the discretion of the performer. We find examples of this in Chopin’s music too. Nobody would think to use pedal only at the two spots where it is marked in the E minor Prélude (these tell us to sustain the bass note with the harmony); observe these special pedal markings and use ordinary pedalling elsewhere, at our discretion and depending on the instrument and the acoustical properties of the performing space.

Whereas Romantic music relies on copious amounts of pedal for colour and resonance, in Classical period music we can very often create sufficient resonance by overholding notes, in similar ways to Baroque playing. In the opening of Mozart’s C major Sonata K545 [Scores, p42], holding onto the first note of each LH group creates harmony while enabling the RH to articulate clearly. A mixture of finger pedalling and light touches of pedal are very appropriate for the music of Haydn and Mozart, where it is important to aim for clarity and transparency of texture.

In Mozart’s music we find many slurs and short phrase markings; it is commonly accepted practice to articulate these. In two-note slurs the rule is to emphasise the first note no matter where the slur occurs in the bar, and to soften and slightly shorten the second note. Whether we make an audible separation at the end of longer phrases or not depends on the circumstance. Where a literal separation sounds choppy or feels awkward, a prevailing legato with a slight stress on the first note of each short phrase often produces a better result than an obvious lift. We would not want to ignore Mozart’s slurs by playing the opening of the B flat Sonata K570 as one long legato line, but we might make sense of the slurs in one of two ways:

In the following phrase, a very slight stress on the first quaver (8th note) of each slurred group followed by a slight diminuendo towards the end of the slur is all we need to do to make the phrasing clear.

In Brahms’s music we find many such phrase markings requiring our consideration, longer ones indicating the grammar (musical clauses and sentences) and shorter ones the articulation. The Intermezzo in A Op 118 No 2, for example, contains many twonote (strong-weak) slurs in both the melodic line and the lower parts that affect the gait of the music. From bar 44 the metrical hierarchy of the bar is trumped by the two-note slurs; emphasise the first note in each pair to create a hemiola-like effect.

If you are keen to research the vast and sometimes confusing subject of historically informed performance practice to help shape your interpretations, I can highly recommend the following publications:

- Ornamentation: A Question & Answer Manual – Carole Bigler and Valery Lloyd-Watts (Van Nuys, California: Alfred, 1995). An easy-to-read book that demystifies the complex subject of ornamentation in all style periods.

- Keyboard Interpretation – Howard Ferguson (Oxford University Press, 1975). This compact book covers all style periods from the 14th to the 19th century.

- Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music – Sandra P Rosenblum (Indiana University Press, 1988). This exhaustive study of Classical period style is an indispensable reference book for the serious pianist.

- Classical and Romantic Performing Practice 1750-1900 – Clive Brown (Oxford University Press, 1999). A substantial scholarly textbook focussing on the interpretation of notation.

I am sure we have all heard performances that may be stylistically correct but yet leave us cold. The printed score is but a starting point for our own performance, which needs to be filtered through our imagination as well as our intellect to communicate in a meaningful way to our listeners. ■

For detailed advice on arpeggiation from Graham and The Online Academy, visit www.bit.ly/arpeggiation. For Graham’s extensive series of walkthrough videos and annotated study edition of Brahms’s Intermezzo in A, visit www.bit.ly/BrahmsIntermezzo.