Mitigating the swerve to modernism: practice-led methods for reimagining historical music

Abstract:

Since the middle of the 20^th century, historically informed performance (HIP) has grappled with how music might have sounded in pre-modern eras, using in the main transformative processes in which documentary evidence is translated into sound. But, as has been argued by many luminaries, the results of HIP have been largely shaped within modernist aesthetic ideals established in the first half of the 20^th century. This has favoured text-based interpretation above artistically-driven improvisatory expressive practices well documented in pre-20^th-century written sources and preserved on early recordings. In my presentation I will discuss some recent results of Australian Research Council funded projects underpinned by practice-led methods that offer significantly different results for music of the Classical and Romantic eras.

Biography

 Neal Peres Da Costa is Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Historical Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM), University of Sydney. A graduate of the University of Sydney, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London) and the City University (London), and the University of Leeds (UK), Neal has long been established a a world-recognised authority on keyboard performing practice 1700–1900. His highly-praised monograph Off the Record: Performing Practices in Romantic Piano Playing (OUP 2012) is considered as a ‘go to’ text worldwide. He co-edited (with Clive Brown and Kate Bennett-Wadsworth) the world-first performance editions of Brahms’ Sonatas for solo instrument and piano (Bärenreiter 2015/16), co-authored (with Clive Brown) the online Performance Practice Commentary for Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin (Bärenreiter 2020), co-edited the book Creative Research in Music (Routledge 2021), and produced several thought-provoking book chapters on performance practice. Neal is lead chief investigator on three prestigious Australian Research Council Discovery Projects: Deciphering 19^th-century pianism: Reinvigorating global practices; Hearing the music of early NSW 1788-1860; and, The shock of the old: Rediscovering the sounds of bel canto 1700-1900.

As a scholarly performer, Neal works regularly with Ironwood, Bach Akademie Australia and Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra (ARCO) of which he is Artistic Advisor. Winner of the 2008 Fine Arts ARIA, Neal’s impressive discography includes: Brahms: Tones of Romantic Extravagance (2016) awarded “Recommended CD” by The Strad (UK); Beethoven Piano Concertos 1 and 3 (AHE, 2017), Pastoral Fables with Alexandre Oguey – cor anglais (2018), Romantic Dreams - Piano Quintets by Louise Farrenc and Camille Saint-Säens (2020) and ground-breaking recording of Mozart’s Piano Concerto K 488 with ARCO (forthcoming 2023) all on the ABC Classics label.