The Ultimate Authority? : Possibilities and Problems in Composers’ Organ Recordings

• The article examines the authority of recordings that preserve a composer playing his or her own music. Although composers’ recordings may seem to present all that is needed in order to understand the best way to interpret their organ music, there are several problems in evaluating these documents, including the composer’s ability as a performer, the context and purpose of the recording, the stylistic relationship between the music and the instrument played, and the ways in which a composer’s attitudes may change over time. Still, information taken from historical recordings can be used to clarify composers’ preferences and, when studied with discretion, recordings can be useful tools in developing interpretations of specific works. They document the range of possible interpretations within the composer’s tradition, features that often are not notated because they are self-evident to contemporary musicians.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Musik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Music (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Musikalisk gestaltning

Music Performance

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