Interpretation typically begins with the musical score and the traditions associated with it. Most scores, especially those from around 1750 onwards, provide instructions on both what to play and how to play it. However, since the notation system is underdeveloped in displaying articulation, phrasing, dynamics, etc., these should only be viewed as indications for interpretation. Therefore, all musicians ignore, change, and add to these written instructions to interpret the music.
This practice of disregarding, altering, and augmenting information in the score regarding its interpretation has also enabled editors to publish versions of the score based on their own insights or intentions.
When musicians, editors, or the original composer write notations about interpretation into the score, interpretation can be divided into written and performed interpretations.
One advantage of a written-down interpretation is that it enables a performed interpretation that is more structured or complex than memory alone allows.
Written Interpretation for Performative Interpretation
An example of a complex written interpretation is the following version of Bach’s two-part invention in A minor. In the musical score, the main motive is marked in blue, while a secondary motive is marked in red (beginning in bar 3). This secondary motive receives a new treatment in bar 14, where the inversion of the first three notes is followed by an immediate repetition of the motive, implying a 3/8 time signature. Things become even more intricate in bars 19-21 and 24-25.
As endless recordings of the piece show, everything might be played in 4/4, regardless of the content. However, if this juxtaposition between multiple time signatures is emphasized through interpretation, this movement concludes with a whimsically humorous statement that diverges significantly from our traditional understanding of Bach.
Written interpretation for imitation
Another example of written interpretation is the following score sample, which provides added notation about micro changes in tempo as well as the temporal relationship between the pianist’s right and left hand (synchronization). These markings are developed to assist a musician in imitating Cortot’s interpretation of Chopin’s Op. 28, No. 4.
Alfred Cortot: Chopin Prelude, E minor (1933):
- Blue: arpeggio
- Green: forward in tempo
- Red: backward in tempo
- Orange: delayed; the higher, the more delayed (compared to L.H)
Transcription as a method for interpretation
A special form of written interpretation is transcription. In a transcription, an existing work is recreated for a new instrumentation; for example, a piano piece might become an orchestral piece, or an orchestral piece might become a string quartet etc. A transcription is a new version of an existing work that adds, enhances, distorts, and/or suppresses various qualities of the original. While a transcription should resemble its original, deviations are inevitable due to the change in instrumentation. Additionally, these deviations might result from a preference for recreating aspects such as the music’s character, virtuosity, or complexity, rather than its immediate surface (Laursen, 2018).
In regard to interpretation, a transcription might be used simply to explore a piece through, not only the idiomatics of another instrument but also by a musician who does not share the music’s performance history.
In our project, Henrik Knarborg transcribed Debussy’s “Girl with the Flaxen Hair” for marimba. In the transcription, he attempted to preserve as many original notes as possible through extensive use of arpeggio. Performing these with a percussionist’s mindset led to a novel interpretation of flow and tempo, revealing new possibilities in a piece that might otherwise be difficult to free from its traditional constraints.
Another example of transcription within this project is Merlyn Luke Perez-Silva’s Transcription of Xenakis’s Psappha from percussion to electronic music. In this new version, the untraditional score of Xenakis is converted into MIDI format, which is then played through a DAW using a Roland 606 plugin and further enhanced with various digital effects. The final rendition allows the piece to be played as if it were a recording or to be further modified live, such as spatializing it or adapting it to suit the acoustics of a concert hall.
Merlyn Luke Perez-Silva: Xenakis Psappha WYSIWYG Drum Machines (2024):
[Link to Psappha]
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