How to make classical music truly contemporary

By JOE HARROP

What is contemporary musical performance? For the listener this question can lead to enormous confusion. Frequently a "contemporary piece" can be so confusing we choose not to attend the concert. But it is worth having a closer look at what could be called contemporary in the performance of classical music.

One could argue that the recording industry has seen Bach, Beethoven and Brahms presented in a more contemporary manner than Boulez, Berio and Birtwistle.

I have had the good fortune to work with two leading London musicians. One specialises in music written in the past 50 years, the other in music from hundreds of years ago. Both are involved in performance practices that could be called contemporary.

The first is Sebastian Bell. A world-famous flautist, Bell is a knowledgeable, respected and downright friendly muso. He is a leader in the intricate art of contemporary performance on flute. Name a famous composer from the mid to late 20th century, and Bell has worked with them, premiered their works, and is on first-name terms with them. As a founding member of the London Sinfonietta (formed in 1968) he has participated in the changing trends of contemporary music over 40 years.

The other is Simon Standage, a world-class artist whose performances on the gut-stringed baroque violin are well known in the historical performance scene. His past and present engagements speak for themselves: London Symphony Orchestra, deputy concertmaster English Chamber Orchestra, concertmaster English Concert (1973). He founded the Salomon Quartet in 1981, the Collegium Musicum in 1990, and has been associate director of the Academy of Ancient Music from 1991.

Both men are pioneers in their fields. They have been in the business for the same length of time, and encountered the same influences on the classical-music world (both cite the rise of recording and the advent of the CD as major events in their careers). The major difference is the type of music in which they have become known as specialists: one modern, the other ancient.

Contemporary is what belongs to our time. The extended techniques of contemporary flute music appeared in the earlier part of last century, a landmark composition being Luciano Berio's Sequenza for solo flute, published in 1959. Contemporary flute practices arguably spring from that time. The same period saw the parallel rise of baroque performance practice, then given the ostentatious title of "authentic" performance. Old works were heard again on instruments and in a style reportedly "historically correct".

An argument of epic proportions raged between players and musicologists during the 80s over the validity of this style of performance. The conclusion was that "historically correct" performances were far more modern than most of the orthodox interpretations of the old masters before the rise of so-called historical performance.

This is the interesting bit: new music being played using modern performance techniques springing from the mid-1900s is rightly termed contemporary classical music. However, you also have music that is hundreds of years old being played with performance techniques that have their origins from the same time as the so-called modern techniques. This is therefore, from a technique point of view, also contemporary. How do we as listeners deal with this? Referring this to my two specialists, the issue of recording and its effect came up.

Bell believes the concentration on correctness in recording needs to be offset by the promise of something unique in live performance to lure potential listeners out of their homes and into the concert hall. He advocates a major review of live performance by performers and promoters.

Standage takes a slightly more moderate view. He enjoys the process of recording, but abhors the mosaic style of editing evident on many CD releases. He does see as somewhat unusual the worldwide tours of classical music. In the past music would have been made and listened to by members of the same community.

The get-out-of-jail-free-card in this issue comes in the bright lights of a performance. With all its human variables, the live situation should be so new, so spontaneous, we should feel the same excitement, whether it is John Cage or John Rimmer being performed. The exchange is so in the present, in our time, that the dedicated and shared experience of any work through composer, performer and audience can be happily, and convincingly, called contemporary.