Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp minor BWV 849 (Cory Hall)

O musicólogo Cory Hall toca aquí un dos meus números preferidos do “Cravo ben temperado”, o preludio e a fuga en “dó díese menor” do primeiro libro (BWV 849). Atención: non é unha execución de concerto, so intenta mostrar cal é o millor tempo para esta música. Copio a continuación as anotacións do propio intérprete.

This prelude and fugue offers a good example the natural tempo for each resulting in a 1:2 duration ratio, in that the fugue is two times longer than the prelude. Bach achieved this by pairing a courante-style prelude in 6/4 with a slow alla-breve fugue in 2/2 that have equal 8th-note speeds, and gave the fugue virtually three times more measures, thus making its actual performance duration two times longer.

In other words, the 8th note functions as the “fastest common denominator” between the two pieces and if one plays the 8ths at the same speed one is guaranteed to create Bach’s 1:2 duration ratio. Listen carefully to my performance and you will discover that I play the exact same 8th-note speed for both. This creates an organic sense of unity that is otherwise lost.

I also present this prelude in a separate video in my series “pieces almost everyone plays too slow”. You are invited to view that video and read the analysis for more details on the style and tempo of this prelude, which will help illuminate the present analysis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEoNgOov6QA

Ever since the time of Beethoven and Czerny, around 1820, composers and performers began operating with a new esthetic entirely different than in Bach’s time 100 years previously. It was around then that Beethoven proclaimed to a publisher “we can hardly have tempi ordinari” any longer, meaning that the standard tempos and tempo conventions of the 1700′s had become obsolete for the new kind of romantic music in vogue. In general, Beethoven sped up the fast tempos like allegros and slowed down the slower tempos like andantes and adagios.

Thus, when playing Bach, Beethoven most likely chose much different tempos than Bach or most of his contemporaries would have for the same compositions. Czerny (Beethoven’s student) even took this a step further and sped up tempos to unprecedented heights, which can be seen in his popular Bach editions. Czerny then passed on the “Beethovenian” tempo traditions to his students, and they to their students, and so on. Most students, teachers, and professors today are probably not aware that many of the tempos we hear on recordings, in concert halls, in conservatories, and in competitions are actually 19th-century tempos.

Bach’s student Johann Philipp Kirnberger described Bach’s system in his own words “to the best of my abilities” in his very influential treatise, [Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik,] The Art of Strict Musical Composition (1774-79). In his section on tempo Kirnberger writes, “Every piece has its definite tempo, determined by the meter and note values that are employed in it”. Kirnberger called the definite or natural tempo of a piece its “tempo giusto”. Kirnberger does not say Bach’s pieces have liberal tempo ranges that may vary depending on the instrument or venue, but rather, he specifically says every piece has its “natural” and “definite” tempo. It would not be until about 1820 when this type of idealism changed.

The key to determining the duration ratios Bach desired is to first assign the “natural” tempo for each based on stylistic characteristics, then to discover what type of ratio results.

This prelude is usually played much too slow, a tradition that probably began in the 19th century when Bach’s music was being rediscovered and “romanticized”. Apparently, the minor key led the romantics into believing it was a funeral dirge or something to that effect. In reality, it is nothing more than a graceful and elegant courante with a typical French courante meter of 6/4 and Bach’s usual courante tempo of quarter = 108. This tempo results in a duration of 2:10.

This serious 5-voice fugue emulates a sacred chorus and has one of Bach’s most usual slower tempos of half = 54, which results in a duration of 4:16. This is virtually two times longer than the prelude’s 2:10, showing Bach was aiming for a 1:2 duration ratio. As pointed out above, this is easily attainable by playing the 8th notes at the same speed, or more practically, the quarter notes at the same speed.

To learn more about exactly how Bach achieved accurate duration ratios, please see my website, especially beginning with Elaboration 2:
http://www.bachscholar.com/Kirnberger.html

Please notice though, that it is not necessary to play like a robot with no feeling to achieve perfect tempos and Bach’s intended duration ratio. I believe the natural tempos –the tempos Bach truly intended– allow one to more easily achieve a musical performance.

Podemos escoitar a fuga do número anterior interpretada por Friedrich Gulda na miña anotación Bach: cis-moll Fuge aus BWV 849 (Gulda).

Thank you all for sharing culture!

HRW report on Syria’s Supreme State Security Court

Human Rights Watch publicou a semana pasada un informe sobre as violacións dos Direitos Humanos en Siria, centrado nas cometidas arredor do tribunal especial de seguridade do Estado: xuízos sen garantías, condenas por motivos políticos, confesións extraídas baixo tortura… O informe leva por título “Far from Justice: Syria’s Supreme State Security Court”. Copio un extracto da súa introducción:

Forty years after its creation, the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) remains one of the pillars of repression in Syria. An offspring of the state of emergency that the Syrian authorities declared on March 8, 1963, the government created the SSSC to prosecute those it deemed a threat to state security. In practice, the SSSC’s role has been to prosecute those whom the Syrian authorities do not approve of in trials that lack basic due process guarantees. The SSSC consistently ignores claims by defendants that their confessions were extracted under torture and frequently convicts them on vague and overbroad offenses that essentially criminalize freedom of expression and association.

Since 1992, the SSSC has tried thousands of people. With time, as the government’s perceived enemies have changed, so has the profile of the defendants. During the 1990s, the SSSC’s favorite targets were communists, pan-Arab Nasserites, Iraqi Ba`athists, human rights activists, and Muslim Brotherhood members. Today, most of the defendants are suspected Islamists, often accused of being salafis (adherents to fundamentalist Islamic thought) or wanting to fight in Iraq, Kurdish activists demanding increased autonomy and cultural recognition, and independent activists who criticize the regime.

Amongst those recently tried by the SSSC are bloggers who posted articles critical of the authorities, a Kurdish university student who filmed the violent dispersal by the police of a peaceful demonstration of Kurdish children in 2003, and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who returned from exile to Syria.

In preparing this report, Human Rights Watch compiled information about 237 cases, representing all of those known to have been decided by the SSSC between January 2007 and June 2008 (Annex I lists these cases). The SSSC suspended its operations in July 2008, following a riot that broke out in Sednaya prison, located about 30 kilometers north of Damascus, controlled by the military which holds the vast majority of the SSSC defendants. The suspension of trials is likely linked to the government’s total blackout on information on the fate of detainees in Sednaya prison.

Since the SSSC neither grants access to independent observers nor publishes its proceedings, we collected our information from those who had access to the SSSC: defendants who have finished serving their sentence, defense lawyers, and foreign diplomats who gained access to the SSSC courtroom starting in 2004.

The cumulative evidence paints a bleak picture. Between January 2007 and June 2008, at least 33 defendants alleged before the SSSC that Syrian security services tortured them to extract their confessions. To Human Rights Watch’s knowledge, the court took no steps to investigate these allegations. The court sentenced at least 153 defendants on the basis of vague or overbroad charges that criminalize freedom of expression and association. It sentenced at least 10 defendants for posting information online that was critical of the authorities. Prosecutors referred at least eight defendants to the SSSC because they “insulted the Syrian president.” The court also sentenced at least 16 Kurdish activists for demanding increased autonomy and cultural recognition.

Created as an exceptional court, the SSSC exists outside the ordinary criminal justice system and is accountable only to the Minister of Interior, who acts as the delegated martial law governor. By decree, it is exempt from the rules of criminal procedure that apply in Syria’s criminal courts. Its non-compliance with international human rights standards is thus not surprising.

In the cases investigated by Human Rights Watch, we found that security forces detain defendants scheduled to appear before the SSSC for long periods of time -usually for months- before informing them of the charges against them. These waiting periods are a violation of a defendant’s right to be informed promptly of the charges against him and right to a speedy trial. Even after the trial starts, Human Rights Watch’s research shows that half the cases take at least three years to conclude even though most trials usually consist of four short sessions before the SSSC, often less than 30 minutes long each.

Lawyers play a largely ceremonial role during trial. In cases reviewed by Human Rights Watch, the court and the security services almost always deny them access to their clients prior to trial, and trial proceedings begin before lawyers have had an opportunity to see their client’s file. Even after a trial begins, defendants have only very brief access to their lawyer, typically for a few minutes, and usually immediately before or after a trial session. The court also denies lawyers the opportunity to engage in oral defense on behalf of their clients, allowing them to submit only written defense statements.

Defendants have no right to appeal their verdict, a violation of Article 14(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Syria is a state party. By decree, SSSC sentences are final but not enforceable until the President of the Republic ratifies them. In practice, however, the Minister of Interior ratifies the verdicts. [...]

Ciclo de cine “A eterna loita: Israel vs Palestina”

Recibido do grupo local de Amnistía Internacional da Coruña:

Este xoves, día 5 de Marzo ás 19:30 horas, terá lugar o acto de inauguración do ciclo de cine “A eterna loita: Israel vs Palestina”. O lugar elixido para a presentación é a Sala Marilyn Monroe do Fórum Metropolitano, na que se proxectará, a continuación da presentación realizada por Ghaleb Jaber Martínez, a longametraxe Zona Libre, do recoñecido director Amos Gitai.

Ghaleb Jaber Martínez, comisario do Festival Amal e gran coñecedor do conflito pola súa orixe palestina, presentará o ciclo, composto por cinco películas:

• Zona libre
• Os limoeiros
• Domicilio privado
• Mal xesto
• Promises

As cintas, emitiranse en semanas sucesivas, en sesión única os xoves e dobre os venres e os sábados. A través do punto de vista dos seus directores: Amos Gitai, Eran Riklis, Itshak Grad, Saverio Constanzo e Justine Shapiro, preténdese achegar aos espectadores á situación que se vive na actualidade en Israel e nos territorios palestinos ocupados. O ciclo está organizado polo Grupo Local de Amnistía Internacional e polo Concello da Coruña.

A charla inaugural de Ghaleb Jaber será de gran utilidade para comprender mellor as claves da confrontación ao tempo que brindará a súa análise crítica dos filmes; como gran experto que é en cine europeo e árabe.

Máis información sobre películas e horarios, tomada da páxina do Concello da Coruña:

FREE ZONE (Zona libre): 5, 6 e 7 de marzo
De Amos Gitai. Con Hanna Laszlo.
Bélxica-España-Francia-Israel, 2006 – 1h 36 min – V.O.S. en castelán TODOS OS PÚBLICOS

ETZ LIMON (Os limoeiros): 12, 13 e 14 de marzo
De Eran Riklis. Con Ali Suliman.
Israel, 2008 – 1 h 46 min – V.O.S. en castelán – TODOS OS PÚBLICOS

PRIVATE (Domicilio privado): 19, 20 e 21 de marzo
De Saverio Costanzo. Con Mohammed Bakri.
Italia, 2004 – 1 h 38 min – V.O.S. en castelán – NRM 13 anos

TNUAH MEGUNA (Mal xesto): 26, 27 e 28 de marzo
De Itshak Grad. Con Gal Zaid.
Israel, 2006 – 1 h 36 min – V.O.S. en castelán – NRM 18 anos

PROMISES: 2, 3 e 4 de abril
De Justine Shapiro. Documental.
Estados Unidos, 2001 – 1 h 46 min – V.O.S. en castelán – TODOS OS PÚBLICOS