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Originality

| Nov 21, 2019 |

Stravinsky was original; Bach wasn’t. Glenn Gould was original; Adolph Herseth wasn’t. When considering performance and composition, how important is originality?

Let’s start first with performance. My question would be this: Is it the performer’s job to be original when interpreting or simply to do the best job possible in re-creating what the composer wrote originally? (There’s that word again!) I don’t have a definitive response, but for me the answer lies somewhere between those two extremes. An obvious example of originality gone astray can be seen with opera directors who take a standard opera and attempt to make it “their” opera. Sadly, in most opera reviews the majority of the article focuses on the director’s vision. To me, this is a sort of egocentric madness.

I remember hair-raising performances by Adolph Herseth, the legendary principal trumpet in the Chicago Symphony, and the issue of originality doesn’t even seem relevant; he was simply delivering the very best version of what Mahler or Strauss or Tchaikovsky had in mind. Yet I also think of Leonard Bernstein’s speech before a Glenn Gould performance of the Brahms First Piano Concerto. Bernstein informed the audience that he disagreed with Gould’s highly original and eccentric interpretation, but he also believed that Gould was a serious artist whose interpretation deserved to be heard (click here to see the video). I love that speech and what it represents—namely, an openness to different ideas. Maybe we should play that speech for some politicians these days!

What about originality in composition? Consider two of our greatest composers, Stravinsky and Bach. Stravinsky is considered to be one of the most original composers of his or any time, while Bach was considered to be highly unoriginal. After all, Bach wrote in older forms such as the fugue and even wrote out most of his ornamentations. (What a scandal!) Yet both composers are considered to be absolute giants—“immortals,” as Hermann Hesse might have called them.

My own take on originality is that it can be a positive thing, but far more important is the quality of the work. We have all heard pieces that are highly original but—let’s face it—total crap. So while originality is good, quality matters most and must always come first. And in stating that, I suspect that I’m not being very original.