# Do you think all composers works intended differently than performed?



## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Debussy plays Debussy | Clair de Lune (1913)

If you listen to this, it sounds very different than any other version that I've heard.

Agree?

I often think that composers intended their music to be different than usually performed. But, a sign of a great piece of music is that you an interpret it many different ways and it will still sound good.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

That's right - great music can be played many different ways and it remains great. There were of course some composers who had really good ideas about how they wanted their music played and left detailed instructions. Mahler was really persnickety and yet no two recordings sound alike. And sometimes what the composer wrote is at odds with how they themselves play it. You can't trust old recordings; too often the composer/conductor was limited by the short recording time on 78 records - 3 - 4 minutes per side.

I really do enjoy listening to those old Debussy recordings though, it's quite insightful. He plays Claire de Lune almost as if he's improvising on the spot - lots of freedom with rubato. Same with the records where Ravel conducted. Enlightening.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

I agree with the OP that this sounds very different than how most pianists play it, the fluctuations of tempo and his unique phrasing that I’ve never heard before. I think he plays it brilliantly. But I doubt that anyone else could do it like this because they’re going to feel it differently and interpret it differently. What Debussy played can only be a guide, and by trying to imitate him exactly might be false to the pianist and also the music, though I think it should perhaps be played with a similar sensitivity of touch. Thanks for posting this unique performance. I’ve never heard it before and was blown away.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

regenmusic said:


> Debussy plays Debussy | Clair de Lune (1913)
> 
> If you listen to this, it sounds very different than any other version that I've heard.
> 
> ...


Fascinating performance. Thank you.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Wow. His performance clearly outshines all other ones I've heard. The faster parts have the different voices singing together but each has a life of its own (different dynamics, beats). Real magic. Every other pianist plays those in a more technical fashion, like a homogeneous mixture. The slower parts have the fantasy less emphasized, less stop and go, but more forward momentum. I once learned to play the timing of the slow parts exactly as written, what he does is cut the length of the rests by maintains the proportion between notes within the phrases. Other pianists also change the proportions inside the phrases to something more generic, which loses the effect.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Scriabin Prelude Op.11 No.2 in A minor is one of those pieces that many people prefer to not play at the tempo specified by the composer. Scriabin marked the piece allegretto and played it himself at that tempo 



But most other pianists play it at moderato or lento








regenmusic said:


> But, a sign of a great piece of music is that you an interpret it many different ways and it will still sound good.







_"… but there's never a single bar without these articulation slurs, because they are what makes the music speak. And that's what they thought in the 18th century, that music is like speech and it must be inflected properly."_

It depends on how much you 'alter' the music. you could play however differently you want and still say that it sounds good, but there is a danger of neglecting the composer's actual intentions to a point that you don't speak the language of the composer. We must remember Classical music is based around the idea we must respect the composers' original intentions.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

hammeredklavier said:


> S
> 
> It depends on how much you 'alter' the music. you could play however differently you want and still say that it sounds good, but there is a danger of neglecting the composer's actual intentions to a point that you don't speak the language of the composer. We must remember Classical music is based around the idea we must respect the composers' original intentions.


I guess you're right. But where's the fun in that? Of course, I guess there's a difference between respecting the composer's intentions and mangling them.


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