Annabel Balean Guaita: The Atonal Piano
Stipendiat ved Griegakademiet, Universitetet i Bergen
Performative analysis of the piano music by Fartein Valen inspired by the performance practices of The Second Viennese School.
Does the scores of the piano music of Fartein Valen provide enough information to understand- and perform his music? His notation of tempo modifications, dynamics and articulation markings are kept to a minimum. A lot of his music he himself never experienced being played. There are few recordings with performers that had personal contact with the composer. Such recordings could have given us useful information about how we should think around his music concerning style, aesthetics and performative aspects.
In this project I will try to investigate a set of ideals based on the musical tendencies of his time, in an attempt to create a plausible tradition around Fartein Valens music. There has been written a lot about Fartein Valen as a composer and musical analysis of his works do exist. But there has been very little focus on the performance, despite his position as one of our most important modernists. As musicians playing work from the classical or the romantic period, we phrase the music guided by how the harmony evolves in a tonal musical language. Valens “atonal” musical language can also seem difficult to understand, both for musicians as well as for listeners.
An essential question will be: How do I as performing musician orientate myself in this absence of tonality? Other important questions that naturally arise from this are To what degree is Valens music experienced as atonal? Which interpretative consequences can we draw? Are the consequences of performing tonal music no longer valuable when the tonality is absent?
With this project my goal is to vitalize the interpretation of Valens music in a historical informed way and create some interest and new knowledge around his piano music. His piano works deserves a more prominent place in the modern musical repertoire.
Method
The performance practise traditions around the works of Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern has lately been in focus of reconstruction. The performative ideals that was developed by the musicians that were performing their music, Eduard Steuermann and Rudolf Kolisch, has given us a richer and more complex understanding of their works. This kind of investigation has not yet been done on Fartein Valens music. The composers of The Second Viennese School have a lot of the same musical and spiritual awareness of the past as Fartein Valen. Therefore I find it useful to open a new discussion around the interpretation of Valens music based on the performance practise of The Second Viennese School. In addition to this, I will also investigate recordings of performers that Valen heard, and has expressed his enthusiasm for in live performances.
Background
When it comes to Valens relation to Schönberg, many researchers’ focus up until now has been on the aspects of composition. In Einar Røttingen`s PhD thesis (2005) he raises some questions about Valen`s Sonata for piano nr 2 opus 38, related to The Second Viennese School. Among other things, he implies that there is a connection between Webern and Valen in the use of rubato. They notated few tempo modifications, but as we have learned from the working score (published by Universal Edition in 1976) of the pianist Peter Stadlen, who did the first performance of Variationen für Klavier opus 27 in 1936, rubato plays an important role in the shaping of phrases” .
I wish to take Røttingen`s questions further in my project. Alfred Cramer – in his PhD from University of Pennsylvania (1997) – is looking into the performance practice of The Second Viennese School. Analyzing the pianist Eduard Steuermanns statements and recordings on Columbia Records, he shows how Steuermann treats Schönberg`s rich polyphonic texture, making a clear transparent sound. In Klavierstücke nr 1 opus 11 (bar 13) for example Steuermann is modifying Schönberg´s dynamics from ppp til pp in the left hand. By doing this, gaining a more homogenous sound is created .
Even if it is over 70 years since Valen was active as a composer, his piano music has not yet become a part of the standard pianists repertoire. Except for Robert Riefling, there are no existing recordings by pianists who had any direct contact with the composer. In order to construct a plausible tradition it is necessary to look closer to the impulses that Valen received. Johan Sebastian Bach, the German-Austrian late-romantic tradition and last but not least the works of Arnold Schönberg are important influences. This opens an important question; what aspects are common for Valen and Schönberg? Valen had no personal contact with Schönberg. What we know, is that he studied his music thoroughly. Whenever Schönberg had written something new, Valen got it sent to his home in Valevåg village in the western part of Norway. We can even see from personal notes when he received each work of Schönberg, and the exact dates when he studied it and compare it to what piece he was working on at the same time.
Kortsen (1965) writes that if there is anything in common, it would be the extensive use of inverted theme or motif . Except from this, he states that there are no similarities. All of these composers experimented as the result of “the crisis of tonality” in very different ways. Still we tend to classify their music as “atonal” which literary means not-tonal. Some authors and academics have actively sought to solve these problems by rejecting the use of the word itself and replacing it with alternative terms such as "pan-tonal," "non-tonal," "free-tonal," and "without tonal centre," but these efforts have not gained broad acceptance. I will look into differences and similarities in “atonality” and 12-tone style and serialism, how it is affecting the performative style of each of these composers and how it evolves through their production. Maybe it is possible to find other descriptions that are more precise, and reflect on how we hear this music today?
From a performer’s point of view Valen and Schönberg have many aspects in common. The absence of traditional tonality is one of them, as well as the link to the late romantic performance practice. The fact that they are looking at old forms, especially the baroque period, is another reason for comparison. The suite, variation form etc are examples of this. In this they are doing “music that reflects upon music” and the question is what does this do to the creation of the particular style of each of these composers? Tonality also implies form. Tonality structures the music. Tonality was maybe abandoned, but terms like phrasing, timing, sense of expectation and relaxation are kept.
The performers of the turn of these times had to orientate themselves in a new musical language. One question was: what should we keep from the romantic period, and what should we abandon? I imply through this project that the artistic processes of the musicians around Schönberg and the break with the tonality also are relevant for the music of Fartein Valen. Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen became an important arena where composers and performers could spend time rehearsing, teaching and trying to understand this music. They made recordings and other written material that can provide us with important information about how they were thinking in performing this music. Key names are Eduard Steuermann, Rudolf Kolich, Erwin Stein and Peter Stadlen. Their practice has been the focus of numbers of researchers, and my project will benefit from this. Peter Stadlen did the first performance of Webern´s Variationen für Klavier opus 27 in 1937. In 1979 Universal Edition published a special edition of this score, based on Stadlens´s personal working score, where Webern´s comments from rehearsals are notated.
This score is a good example of how a performing tradition around this music has disappeared, and it has provided important information in Webern´s works. Webern´s style can seem very abstract and objective, but as Stadlen´s score shows, there are many hidden keys to phrasing, rubati and how we as performers can express the structure and drama of this work. Valen´s view on performative matters can we get closer to from his many letters. He travelled to Berlin at several occasions and he heard among others Max Reger, Ferrucio Busoni and Artur Schnabel) . These letters tells us that Valen cherished a singing tone and a well- shaped phrasing. He disliked high tempi and cold, objective performances. ”Schnabel havde det bløde, varme fyldige anslag som jeg sværmer saa for”.
It is this project’s goal to provide new information about this music, and to find an artistic and meaningful interpretation based on historical informed knowledge.