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The Outrageously Romantic Symphony Orchestra was set up in 1999 to
explore original interpretations of Romantic music. They began
with a full-scale re-evaluation of the Brahms symphonies, working with
the questions of rhythmic dissonance, bowed legato and large-scale
phrasing structures. Subsequently they have applied these ideas to music
by Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Mahler, Bruckner and
most recently Elgar.
There is strong evidence that composers of the Romantic period were
interested in developing complex rhythmic arguments in the same way as
they were expanding and developing the harmonic language. The
preservation of a strongly audible rhythmic structure in every bar is central to this
idea, as is the concept of a 'romantic accent': one that
does not disrupt the structure of bar, but enters into
conversation with it. Key stylistic concepts are often
misunderstood in modern performances. Expressive legato, where the
the strongest beat of the bar must emerge clearly from the line without
disrupting it, is often smoothed over altogether, or the rhythmic
elements of the phrase are altered to fit the harmonic content instead
of being in conversation with it.
There is also
overwhelming evidence of the "colonisation of piano attack"
throughout modern orchestral playing. Rather than a piano
reduction being seen as a poor imitation of the expressive possibilities
of the bow or diaphragm, the ideal for modern instrumental players seems to be a
crisp piano-like attack followed by an unchanging, unwavering,
uninteresting note length. The hidden pulse of the bar, of the
changing harmony or of the evolution of a single note in a phrase has
disappeared from the technique of our young players altogether,
particularly in fortissimo.
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