Non-Urtext Performance Treatise Part I

[louispodesta]

Some will find this to be old news, but most people have no knowledge of these historical performance techniques.  They have always been taught that the composers and their students originally played utilizing the modern block chord, strict tempo method of (Urtext) literal interpretation.

 Accordingly, when reading a score, students have always been taught to play their chords in a block chord fashion.  Unless they are specifically marked, they are never instructed to play rolled chords, instead.
 
Stated anotherway, when a person is taught to play a chord, an octave, or double notes at the piano, they are taught to strike all of the keys at the same time. It is assumed that because the notes on the printed score are all lined up vertically on the note stem those keys are to be struck simultaneously.
 
However, recent written and recorded sources have shown that the composers and pianists of the 19th and early 20th centuries regularly rolled/arpeggiated their chords, octaves, and double notes. This was done commonly in the left hand, and also often in the right hand.

They also used a performance technique known as asynchronization, where the bass note was played slightly ahead of the soprano note in order to enhance the melodic line.

It is most important to note that the style and utilization of  arpeggiation and asynchronization was specific to a particular composer.  No two were done the same way.
 
As an example there is the recording "Pupils of Clara Schumann," where Adelina de Lara arpeggiates and asynchronizes the music of Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven.  Then, there are the digital stereo piano roll recordings, "Debussy, The Composer As Pianist," and "Ravel, The Composer As Pianist," where the composers use these techniques extensively.
 
Two written sources are Kenneth Hamilton's, "After the Golden Age," and Neal Peres Da Costa's, “Off the Record," whose books contain extensive discussions of arpeggiation and asynchronization, along with rhythmic alteration and tempo modification.  They state that in the 19th century people originally learned a piece from the composer or one of their students because the score was only meant to be a guide.
 
Finally, enclosed is a link to a You Tube video illustrating this research.
 
This is a somewhat radical approach with a title that some have found to be simplistic and offensive.  However, the goal is to have this research published so that every person be given the opportunity to hear the classical piano repertoire as it was originally composed, performed, and taught.