Prom 63: 'The Rite by Heart' (2), Aurora Orchestra, Saturday 2 September 2023

[Mandryka]

The Chiara Quartet have made a thing of performing by heart - I’ve heard their Brahms and their Bartok - it does sound intense and edgy, and I can imagine that that’s helped by playing from memory. Worth checking out I’d say. Some of the old Janacek Quartet recordings were done like that too.

"We find that it helps us to hear each other better and to respond to each other in a much more immediate way,"

https://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20149/16151/

[RichardB]

it does sound intense and edgy, and I can imagine that that’s helped by playing from memory

How? (leaving aside the quote, which could just as easily be a statement about not playing from memory!) I would say that playing from memory might also tend to encourage safe and unadventurous solutions (as in the Varèse performance I mentioned). All that can be said is that playing from memory clearly suits some musicians in some situations. (I bet the Chiara Quartet never played any of their newly commissioned pieces from memory.) Applied to orchestral performance it seems to me a gimmick that will impress people who don't know that much about musical performance. Maybe that's a sufficiently legitimate reason for doing it, of course.

[Mandryka]

How? (leaving aside the quote, which could just as easily be a statement about not playing from memory!) I would say that playing from memory might also tend to encourage safe and unadventurous solutions (as in the Varèse performance I mentioned). All that can be said is that playing from memory clearly suits some musicians in some situations. (I bet the Chiara Quartet never played any of their newly commissioned pieces from memory.) Applied to orchestral performance it seems to me a gimmick that will impress people who don't know that much about musical performance. Maybe that's a sufficiently legitimate reason for doing it, of course.

I suppose my thinking was that they're less likely to be on autopilot. But I'm not claiming that playing by heart is a necessary or sufficient condition for intense edginess.

When performers play with the score in front of them, it's analogous to supervised, micromanaged labour. The score is their task master, keeping them in line, constantly reminding them of what they should be doing.

When they play by heart, they have internalised the music so profoundly that the taskmaster is superfluous. Engaging with each other to make the music comes naturally, intuitively, to them.

Playing by heart and playing with the score represent different models of how a society can function.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Do not most concert pianists (and other instrumental soloists) tend to have a fairly restricted repertoire of memorised works, whereas an orchestral player will be expected to play whatever is programmed for them, unless, as with the Aurora Orchestra, they opt to concentrate on a similarly restricted range of works to that of concert soloists?

That’s the point isn’t it ? They (the Orchestra )perform from memory a restricted range of repertoire. Some pianists have an extraordinarily amount of music stored away. Barenboim for example has the 32 Beethoven donates memorised and I bet that’s not all.
it strikes me that one challenge in memorising an orchestral score is remembering your entry points - you’ve got to memorise quite a few other parts as well.

[Simon B]

While playing standing up... ...of course it doesn't actually make any difference to the sound...

While not really taking issue with the broader point, this was emphatically not the case listening to the Rite in the hall, at least from relatively close to the stage. It may have been for wholly incidental unintended reasons but while the sound produced was likely about the same as usual, the sound received was really very different in both timbre and balance to what is typically heard. Having the woodwind and especially the trumpets and trombones standing up and not playing into stands dramatically affected things. It was rather like they were playing with bells raised for the entire performance instead of at a few key moments as some conductors (e.g. Rattle) usually require.

Whether this is really a good thing rather than not what the composer would have anticipated is a different question. It certainly made it all sound rather different though.

[Bryn]

. . . Some pianists have an extraordinarily [large] amount of music stored away. Barenboim for example has the 32 Beethoven donates memorised and I bet that’s not all. . . .

As did Yvonne Loriod, IIRC.

[RichardB]

It was rather like they were playing with bells raised for the entire performance instead of at a few key moments

Yes, I see that. I was thinking mainly of the strings, for some reason.

[Barbirollians]

Where is there any evidence that the Aurora Orchestra exclude musicians who cannot stand up due to a disability ? Almost certainly it would be unlawful direct disability discrimination.

[Master Jacques]

I suppose my thinking was that they're less likely to be on autopilot. But I'm not claiming that playing by heart is a necessary or sufficient condition for intense edginess.

When performers play with the score in front of them, it's analogous to supervised, micromanaged labour. The score is their task master, keeping them in line, constantly reminding them of what they should be doing.

When they play by heart, they have internalised the music so profoundly that the taskmaster is superfluous. Engaging with each other to make the music comes naturally, intuitively, to them.

Playing by heart and playing with the score represent different models of how a society can function.

While I find a great deal here to question, Mandryka, I'll just ask one: how do you think this band rehearsed their Rite of Spring?

Unless they had their parts in front of them at all times, they simply could not rehearse the piece. They might have done a 'dress rehearsal' run-through without it, but would need to pick up the score immediately afterwards to hear the feedback the conductor would have for them. And of course he'd have to be using a score too, throughout the process.

No. I agree with RichardB that this is no more than a gimmick to provide a bit of publicity. It's not as if Stravinsky wrote his piece to be delivered standing up, or from memory. In that sense, it is completely inauthentic, a circus trick which has nothing to do with art.

[Mandryka]

While I find a great deal here to question, Mandryka, I'll just ask one: how do you think this band rehearsed their Rite of Spring?

.

Well it occurred to me that the best way to answer this is to ask them, so I sent them an email yesterday. I’ll keep you posted if and when they reply.

[Barbirollians]

I enjoyed the performance on Sounds and if still available I shall catch up with the televised version in which I suspect the actors contributions will make more sense.

[Master Jacques]

Well it occurred to me that the best way to answer this is to ask them, so I sent them an email yesterday. I’ll keep you posted if and when they reply.

Admirable, Mandryka - I look forward to their reply, if and when!

[subcontrabass]

Coming late to this discussion I have a vivid memory of watchinig Pierre Boulez conducting the Rite from memory about 60 years ago.

[Mandryka]

Admirable, Mandryka - I look forward to their reply, if and when!

Thanks very much for getting in touch with us and for your kind words about Aurora. I work in the Aurora management team and hope you don't mind me replying on behalf of our musicians.

All rehearsals for memorised concerts do happen from memory, with the conductor either singing or playing the piano to give references to the score (i.e. rather than calling out bar numbers). Usually players have their parts at rehearsals in case they need to check anything; they'll keep them to one side or on the floor so that they only refer to them if necessary.

Everyone has stopped using the score by the general rehearsal (with the conductor giving feedback in the same way as described above).

I hope that helps, and we look forward to welcoming you to another concert soon.

[Master Jacques]

Thanks very much for getting in touch with us and for your kind words about Aurora. I work in the Aurora management team and hope you don't mind me replying on behalf of our musicians.

All rehearsals for memorised concerts do happen from memory, with the conductor either singing or playing the piano to give references to the score (i.e. rather than calling out bar numbers). Usually players have their parts at rehearsals in case they need to check anything; they'll keep them to one side or on the floor so that they only refer to them if necessary.

Everyone has stopped using the score by the general rehearsal (with the conductor giving feedback in the same way as described above).

I hope that helps, and we look forward to welcoming you to another concert soon.

Most revealing - thank you again, Mandryka, for effective sleuthing. An interesting slight variant on theatrical rehearsals, where actors (as a general rule) are "on the book" for the first stages of rehearsals, and gradually move off it in their own time - though the instruction will go out from the director to be "off the book" after a certain point.

The Aurora players are "off the book" early on, but with the scores close at hand if they need them. The conductor's method of rehearsing is the radical part here (singing or playing the piano to alert players to where they're restarting) and must take up a lot more time than the usual method ("three before G, please").