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• 1 2024-11-26T08:02:19-08:00 VCS Vol. II No. 14: Romanze 14 Embodied analysis and discussion plain 2025-01-13T07:56:14-08:00

  Overview

  The Romanze no. 14 in A minor is the first of the preparatory etudes that has a piano accompaniment. From a performance practice perspective, this highly expressive piece immediately raises questions about Baermann's breathing/phrasing marks and the rubato that they might imply. The breath marks come very frequently, which in combination with the indication ‘Andante con moto mit innigem gefühl’ points to an intense, sensitive and potentially slightly breathless or agitated emotional character. An important decision to make with this study is the tempo feel: how to balance the ‘con moto’ indication with the need for space to reflect the dense phrasing and expression markings in the score. Like the breath marks, the accentuation marks and dynamic hairpins also invite timing flexibility.
  
  

  Players' Guide: Key ideas to explore

  • Try following Baermann’s breath marks exactly. How much more tempo flexibility do you need to make space for these?
  • Notice how the breath marks sometimes impose an irregular phrasing pattern by interrupting what we might think of as the ‘logical’ phrasing. Rather than equating breathing with the end of the phrase, can you develop a variety of breath characters – reflecting whether musical tension is relaxed or maintained, momentum arrested or continued. For a full discussion of Baermann’s breath marks, including the ‘emotional’ breath, see Breathing and Phrasing [forthcoming section].
  • Many 19th-century composers used hairpins to indicate rubato, as well as tonal/vibrato effects in some contexts. Explore different expressive devices and colours at these moments.

  Research documentation and reflection

  Background and trajectory of the research:
  This is the first of the Baermann studies I learned, prior to the project, producing a YouTube video during the 2020 lockdown (see below). For this reason it is perhaps ‘in my body’ in a deeper way than the later studies. It was my first exploration of the research question raised by the density and complexity of expression markings (including breaths). My initial attempts as adhering to the breath marks were physically uncomfortable, as I became over-filled with air; as a result I experimented with using some marks to breathe out rather than in.
  
  Work-in-progress videos:
  
  In this multi-tracked, self accompanied video from 2020, you can see that I am not taking many of the breath marks given by Baermann. The effect is a flowing interpretation that has a degree of rubato and expressivity (relative to what was possible in a multi-track) but does not engage fully with the density of detail given by Baermann in the score. Note also that here I am using a different mouthpiece: the Schwenk und Seggelke ‘Mühlfeld’ model supplied with my instruments, refaced to my own facing preference. This is a larger-chamber mouthpiece than the Baermann-type I use in subsequent videos, giving a more spacious sound but less precise control of articulation and tone.
  
  As I returned to this study for workshops with Daniel in January, April and finally recording in October 2024, my approach to it has gradually developed through both explicit re-consideration and the development and habituation of an embodied technique for Baermann’s expressive style. Key factors in this were myself becoming comfortable with much greater flexibility of timing to accommodate the breath marks; developing a shared flexibility of ensemble that allowed space for that rubato in relation to the piano; my developing theory about the use and implications of Baermann’s accentuation marks; and latterly, my cycle of exploration of early-recordings inspired approaches to tone production, tonguing and legato, which shed light on some passages of the study where I had previously remained unsatisfied with my approach.