Conductor Raffaele Napoli explains the concepts of tempo and speed in music, emphasizing the fact that it is generally incorrect to speak of the "speed" of performing a musical composition.
In the history of music, very few composers have given precise instructions, for example through the indication of the number of metronome beats per minute, regarding the speed that the performance of a piece must follow. Generally, in fact, a musician's virtuosity is also expressed in the choice of an execution speed that allows the listener to grasp all the peculiarities of the harmony in the form in which the author conceived it.
I agree with the Director, who explains these concepts well, which are the bane of many students and seasoned performers. Bach, in fact, is an excellent school for developing the concept of "right tempo." Let's say that even the ornaments suggest the speed of the piece to us. Then there can be a more personal vision regarding the choice of tempos. Listening to Michelangeli playing Scarlatti, we will notice that some sonatas are considerably slower than the traditional performance speed. Another indication is suggested by the Era. Mozart's Presto is certainly not Prokofiev's presto. In fact, I think the references to speed change in different eras. Think of the "presto" of a running carriage compared to the "presto" of a running motorcycle! What do you all think?
C
Chopin
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Reply 3 by Chopin
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Wonderful intervention PianoExpert! If it weren't as you say, Mozart would be like Prokofiev and so on... one cannot flatten everything, one must respect the essence of that music in its specific era... long live philology...
It is due to my Teachers and the Teachers of my Teachers, men and women of the '1900s... and the '1800s. I too, a man of the twentieth century, have heard these assertions from the voices of some of them and I consider them precious. Reflection, before tackling a work, leads us far and saves us labor. Everything is contained within the Music, as Director Napoli also forcefully asserts. I believe that one must arrive at a conscious interpretation of the emotions and motivations that moved the Author to write. To discover. This wonderful non-verbal language is strong, intense... and dangerous. We can often "water down" everything or even, conversely, drift away from the true meaning.
