Richard Jernigan -> RE: Why orchestra? (Sep. 28 2012 21:48:48)
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I looked at this thread a little at the beginning, but lost interest. Reading more, I find it fascinating. Musically I have always been a hexagonal peg, fitting neither round holes nor square ones. When I was a kid trumpet player my symphonic friends would ask why I would hang out with "those guys that play out of tune" and my jazz friends would ask why I would spend hours in rehearsal and concert, "just reading notes off a page." I soon gave up trying to explain that Miles Davis wasn't playing out of tune, he was playing exactly what he wanted to, and after ten seconds you could confidently say, "That's Miles." And I gave up trying to tell my jazz buddies, that if those notes were well written and well played, the whole thing could take off and soar like a great airship. Flamenco with orchestra is often a clash of these two sensibilities, being successful as neither. Cante is the soul of flamenco because the singer individualizes stock material. He or she takes a letra, done by dozens of others, and an equally hackneyed melody, compas and harmony, and produces a moving performance by personalizing them. The great symphonic composers take a prevailing style, and impose their vision on it, sometimes with revolutionary effect--but the players must subordinate themselves to the vision of the composer, and to a lesser extent to the conductor, and play in a unified style. Each genre imposes its limitations. The cantaor can't contrast a flute solo with full orchestra and crashing percussion. The second chair violist in a Beethoven symphony can't pursue a sudden inspiration. The means of expression are limited to the particular genre. To my ear, the solo flamenco guitarist's means of expression are more limited than the cantaor's. "Well," you may say, "Miles's 'Echoes of Spain' album with orchestra was a great success, artistically and commercially." Yes, but the guitar can't totally dominate the orchestra the way Miles could with his trumpet in the recording studio. So instead of dominant soloist with orchestral support, you often get a mishmash, or even the guitarist becomng less expressive in an attempt to integrate with the orchestra. This is not to say there aren't good flamenco guitar/orchestra pieces, nor to disagree with estebanana's suggestions that there may be more fruitful approaches. Just my take on the situation. RNJ
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