Bach: Violin Partita No. 2, d minor - Allemanda & Sarabanda (Benjamin Zander - Interpretation Class)
By Boston Philharmonic
Summary
## Key takeaways - **Less Romantic, More Historically Informed Playing**: Benjamin Zander suggests a less romantic approach to Bach, focusing on historically informed playing that emphasizes a lighter sound and more authentic timings, rather than the rich, full sound often associated with later Romantic interpretations. [03:41] - **The Gain in Renunciation**: Drawing from theologian Thomas Aus, Zander posits that 'the more you renounce, the more you gain,' suggesting that in music, stripping away excessive ornamentation or romanticism can reveal a deeper, more profound beauty in simplicity. [04:19] - **Guiding the Listener, Not Distracting**: A violinist's role is to be a guide, drawing the listener into the music's narrative by focusing on the connection between notes, rather than distracting with overly glorious playing. [12:25] - **Authenticity in Musical Interpretation**: Just as one wouldn't stage a Mozart opera in the 1950s, Zander argues for performing Bach in a manner that respects its original time period, as the music's textures and harmonies are intrinsically linked to that era's context. [15:44] - **Dancing with the Music**: Zander encourages a lighter, more gestural approach to playing, likening it to dancing or walking on a trampoline, to convey the inherent lightness and rhythmic vitality of Bach's compositions. [16:14], [17:10]
Topics Covered
- Embrace historical performance for richer musical insight.
- Simplicity in music reveals profound gain, not loss.
- Focus on the music's narrative, not the performer's virtuosity.
- Authenticity in art transports the audience to the original context.
- Let the music guide the gesture, not the other way around.
Full Transcript
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the
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the
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e
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the
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great beautiful would you do the you're
really
beautiful should should we talk a little
bit about that and then do the saraband
after
that it's it's a very interesting
situation ation because a little bit
like the discussion on the
Beethoven this has become such a normal
way of
playing that I almost don't want to
interfere with it because it's a it's a
beautiful thing you're using all the
techniques that have been developed by
the great Violet of the the sharing and
pman and all those people and and you
you're a wonderful player and you play
it beautifully and it's has a gorgeous
sound and so I don't in a way want to
interfere except I like with the
Beethoven I'd like to just draw your
attention to another way of playing it
um which is less romantic and both in
sound and in timing now that doesn't
mean it has to be straight but I find
the timings and also the sound so rich
and full that I don't think on a b valin
it would have been done that way and the
question then is what what do you lose
by by doing it in a more
authentically uh historically informed
way you know that's the phrase um I
always think that Bach was a was a
Protestant and uh Thomas Aus who was a
great Theologian said The more you
renounce the more you gain is a very
interesting idea the more you renounce
the more you gain and I think this
something in the Simplicity of this
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music I can't play forgive me on the
piano
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but
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just simple as can be with a very light
sound and the the harmonies and the way
that the voices are LED is so beautiful
you don't have to add anything on it so
could we should we just try that
very and then he goes to C to D and then
he goes to D
can I even suggest that you stand very
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still
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beautiful that's coming very beautiful
the something that I love to refer to is
the cosmic pulse of B it's
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just
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play it even a little bit more
restrained in sound so that it's a pure
almost as if you had gut strings have
you played on gut strings with a bbo you
know that feeling of lightness so let's
try that so give up Henrik sharing let's
leave him away and just to go back into
that simplest simple world
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three
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e
gorgeous that's gorgeous because that
takes the ear of The Listener to what's
happening to the music that's what's we
have a d and then we have a C sharp and
this you know this thing is so
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simple it's
like
same thing it's a the dance of the of
the
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[Applause]
alaman there's the G Shar because all
that B flat B flat and
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then
and
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then one more time three
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four
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3
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e
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beautiful go on
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m
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n
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beautiful beautiful
bra it's a different way it's a
different way but the Simplicity of it
and the directness of it draws the ear
of The Listener to the music rather than
to your playing of the music and your
job is like a guide to say this is
what's happening and this note is going
to this note and this note and this note
and you're telling the story of each
note rather than saying listen to my
glorious violin playing and it is
glorious but to me it's a distraction
from what I want to hear when I hear the
music and I think the keyboard players
are useful guides because they don't do
that you know with their clav chalos and
the it's it's a simpler gesture you see
it's worth thinking about so let's try
the
saraban
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for
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for
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for
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for
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for
beautiful beautiful
great loveely that's already that's
already a simpler sound that you were a
more more it takes us to another world
otherwise you're dragging bar into our
world and uh it's like I hate when I go
to the Opera and I watch a Mozart
marriage of figuro in the
1950s I don't want to see moart marriage
of here I want to see it exactly in that
time because his music and his harmonies
and the textures fit those thoughts and
those words and those situations from
that period so I think again as Thomas
AER says you gain more I would even
think you could do it lighter have you
ever tried to dance this can you dance
and play the violin
together like
this
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to
and
can I suggest instead of this gesture
instead of this gesture think of this
gesture think of it as up they
it it's one 2 3 one two 3 it's like
walking on a trampolin
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so
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better better can you make all your
gestures up
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just two
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three
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yeah
I love that
so
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and if you want of course at the end
of is fine to end and there's one other
place
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here
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we go on and do the
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r
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for
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thank
you
you know it's it's very interesting when
a colleague when colleagues get together
to talk about music because you're not a
student you're a
artist I open a a way of thinking and
you take it on and you try it and you
try it on like a beautiful suit and you
say yeah that feels great and and then
you walk away and you've taken that
experience it doesn't mean you have to
follow it but it's it's a way that draws
the audience The Listener into to the
music in a way that the way that so many
modern violinists play it doesn't do
that it takes this music and makes it
sound like b or like Schuman and just
it's another world great beautiful thank
you so
much great
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okay
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