portamento in the performance of classical music
Listen to old recordings of classical music and you will often hear notes connected to each other by a slide (sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes all the way, sometimes only part of the way). As the 20th century progressed this graceful means of phrasing became less and less common until it almost died out in string playing and vocal performance. Of course, it has to be there from time to time, often played very quickly so as not to be conspicuous, but it's not used freely and expressively in the way that was once ubiquitous. Some conductors actively discourage its use, including Roger Norrington, who also reduces vibrato in string playing in keeping with what he considers to be historic correctness. Sadly for him, portamento was extensively used in performances before the modern passion for 'clean' articulation, so his 'authenticism' is pretty random.
I love portamento. I listen to historical recordings to optimise my chances of hearing it. It's both expressive and musical, for it enhances the connection of two notes and thereby helps reinforce a sense of line, which is crucial in much classical music. I've put up some historical recordings here -- http://www.tcd.ie/Music/audioarchive.htm#_Downloads -- which give some lovely examples of portamento in string playing. The Elgar Variations are especially good from this point of view. (image from www.feu-bleu.com)
posted by Simon Trezise at 4:19 AM
4 Comments:
Roger Norrington does not discourage portamento (diffrent from vibrato). His recordings sometimes use portamento quite effectively.
I have heard very little in his music making and orchestral players tend to report that he discourages it. The obvious place to start would be his Elgar First Symphony as the composer's recording has a lot of portamento. Whilst he's stopped the Stuttgart strings using much vibrato, I hear very little portamento, certainly nothing on the scale I'm talking about. I'm happy to be converted, however. Are there some examples I could check out?
Norrington mentioned the usage of portamento in his notes to Wagner and Brahms recordings with LCP. You'll also find some paragraphs on portamento in his article "Conducting Brahms" (in "The Cambridge Companion to Brahms").
He does not encourage frequent use of portamento, but does 'some'. And it's rather subtle than splashy, but sounds effective (though it might be different from what you expect). Try to find some instances in his recordings of Wagner, Brahms or Mahler.
Yes, I see what you mean. But this isn't really the slow, deliberate, expressive portamento that was common in the latter C19th and early C20th. Even conductors who like it now, Elder for instance, seem a bit nervous about slowing it down and making a real feature of it. But I guess it must be hard to persuade string players to depart from their teaching, which emphasises a 'clean' progression from note to note. Shame.
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