If you're wondering why classical music geeks listen to a zillion versions of the same thing, or you're confused by the meaning of an artist's "interpretation," just think of hot sauce.
LOL! I actually had a similar experience when I bought every cowbell in the Neuschwanstein gift shop for a performance of Mahler's 6th. They did think I was crazy, never mind the people on the plane on the way home from Bavaria. But they sounded great.
I used a food/music analogy recently. My friend only listens to one genre of music and my analogy was "burgers are great, but why only eat burgers when you could also eat sushi and sichuan food?" Then there is our friend Sibelius, who offered us a "glass of pure string water" instead of fancy cocktails.
Well, thanks to this talk and my knowledge of Beethoven-interpretations, I got to know much of Sriracha. The pity is that in Vienna, there is no Sriracha. Because of that, I ponder which sort of mustard Karajan would be.
Antal Doráti once said something along the lines of, "We [conductors] aren't the interpreters...the audience members are the interpreters. It's our job to perform music honestly and directly, as close to the composer's wishes as we can, so that everyone in the audience can arrive at their own interpretation of the piece."
Dave - what a fabulous presentation. I have never seen such an original method of explaining anything - ever. Pure genius. Thank you for posting it. PS - I'd love to have dinner at your place! 🍜🍷😃
Hi, Dave, while I watched you hold so many bottles, I yelled, "Get a shopping bag!" Seriously, though, I think there ought to be a Pulitzer for Outstanding Video series. Recently, you strongly suggested we read the comments. Based on what I've read, I know there are enough viewers here to nominate you for an applicable and appropriate award. Hoping it happens.
That was fun and instructive at the same time. I sat through you reading through the ingredients in the various siriacha sauces and trying to taste what would happen if I swapped one for another. . .
Boy that was fun, and to the point! I enjoyed how your discussion also brought in the global cultural mix that has become part of the recipe that is interpretation. By the way, I once saw a wall in a restaurant lined with shelves of what seemed like hundreds of different hot sauces - someone had amassed quite a collection 😉
To continue the metaphor, perhaps the most perverse, "party record" interpretations could be likened to "da bomb" or any number of unenjoyably spicy hot sauces (also fun at parties or as pranks)
Ouch. . . The Ken doll's recording of NIGHTS IN THE GARDENS OF SPAIN sounded like the pianist and the orchestra had a bad case of Mexican heartburn. . . Just sayin'
Cooking is an apt metaphor, since a written recipe is as unalive as a score. A person's take on a recipe would be similar to a conductor's interpretation of a score.
Dave, just curious, what do you personally think of the Gardiner? It was the first complete set I ever bought when it was released, and I had no concept of period instrument performances. I loved it for many years, but now not so much.
The food analogy is a good one for the topic. Personally, I sometimes go to that of different actors performing the same role in a great theatrical play. They use the same words and stage direction, but the interpretation can make a huge difference.
Hi Dave, do you, just like me, have examples where you seem to not like a sauce, but keep returning to it trying? One example for me is Abbado's 1988 BPO Brahms II. In fact, it seems that I have this especially with Brahms and Bruckner dishes, where the sauce seems really important to me. For Brahms, I most appreciate Walter's and Beinum's sauce. For Bruckner, it's different for every dish he cooks. Maybe not surprising for a cook that keeps tinkering with his recipes.
If a computer synthesizer played the score, would that be equivalent to the dish without the spice? I assume it would be bland as sand. But it would still be an interpretation as this would be a choice reflecting intent. Plus the choice of the score would add another note of intervention. So, the is no such thing as the original or pure work for virtually all non-electronic music (Cage) excepted. If you heard the likely poor playing of the premier and early performances, I doubt anyone would want to copy that faithfully. When you started out with the food analogy I thought you were going to talk about the frosting on the cake, with the cake being the core structure and ingredients and the frosting being the presentation. Please don’t add hot sauce to my cake. 😊
Unrelated to the main topic, but it's always funny for me to see that most native Vietnamese, particularly those in the North, has no idea what the heck is Sriracha and why people keep claiming it to be Vietnamese cuisine lol
Well, they do use it when they go abroad and discover the thing. What I mean is that the people who live in Vietnam and has not gone abroad has no idea about Sriracha.
My wife still won't believe it 😁 it is a great idea to compare interpretations of the same piece - maybe a new series - without hijacking your site, there is a video from Pearls Audio where the owner compares with musical examples, the 1953, 1963, 1977 and 198x of Karajan Beethoven 3rd symphony.
That’s really funny! Ketchup should be banned IMHO :) what an awful destroyer of great food. I mean. Come on. Fries with ketchup v fries with a mayo or equivalent condiment. No comparison!
You missed a sauce, probably because it is, erm, not so hot. It's loads of bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in custard. I give you: Marriner's Beethoven. Really, I love Marriner. But having heard three from is B cycle, I could stand no more of it. Wouter
