Paul O'Dette Master Class

17 November 2002

Master classes given by our Benaroya-series artists are a rare treat: they feel even to the audience like a private lesson with an exceptional teacher, as well as a concert by the 'student' performer. Here we had the unusual presence of a great lutenist. Capos came out (stopping at the 2d fret) for the guitarists playing this literature.

Mark Wilson began on guitar with Fantasia No. 1 of Diomedes Cato, from a 1610 Dowland collection (hear it at this site). With a dark, slow ascending introduction, the piece was lovely to experience for the first time. Paul O'Dette's commentary centered on flexibility of rhythm, allowing the slow, long notes of the introduction setting the pace, a sense of sustain and direction; perfecting each voice individually (within a voice, avoiding 'ring-over', detaching the notes). A metronome-like regularity is to be avoided, where subdivisions of notes prevent expression. Equally, don't set the tempo simply to make the fastest section of the piece playable. Something approaching rubato is o.k. in dealing with these quick steps. Phrasing also favors crescendo for a rising phrase, and decrescendo for a descending pitch. With the quick phrases one has to decide when they are essential statements and when they are accidental, with according degree of emphasis. Inscrutable key changes seemed to occur regularly, and this introduced a discussion of errors that can lie in the printed music, propagated down through the centuries.

Ben Albritton was the sole lutenist of the day. He played an early Italian, spirited Pavanne by Dalza (1508). To guitarists this was a fascinating look at the different capabilities of the lute. It provided a chance for much discussion of right-hand technique for the lute: particularly the fullness of sound that comes with as much flesh of the fingertips resting on both strings, as possible, before striking: fewer high harmonics yet a louder sound. There is a tendency to use light free stroke with fingers, rest stroke with thumb. Again, the use of strong emphasis and flexible rhythm separates quick, incidental 'ornaments' from the voice statements. Thumb-index finger (p-i) is a very quick combination for the right hand, compared with the more guitaristic middle finger - index finger (m-i). Try it on your guitar!

Michael Lefevre played on guitar a fantasy from the Jane Pickering Lute Book, often attributed to Dowland, though Mr. O'dette gave evidence against Dowland as composer. Pickering was a lute student in the court of Henry, Prince of Wales in Renaissance England: she took copious notes. It is a major source of the literature from the 'golden age' of the lute (1580-1620). It was a lovely piece in the style of a chromatic fantasy, and Mr. O'Dette pointed out once again how frequently errors crop up in the written text. This is a chronic problem with original texts from this era, and one never quite knows whether an ambitious dissonance is intended or not.

Elizabeth Brown concluded the class with a baroque guitar performing a chaconne by Corbette. Here one experiences wild transitions from plucking to strumming, and Mr. O'Dette fantasized about a happy old grandpa strumming on the front porch. Soft, yet energetic, with challenging transitions, it was a captivating piece on this 5-course, double strung instrument.

Earlier on, Mr. O'Dette spoke of the Bach Chaconne, which has attained such a high status among guitarists and violinists that it is usually begun with monumental slowness and gravity. Yet it is a dance, and he spoke of its Italian operatic origins. Play the introduction more lightly, or at least with greater speed which is more consistent with the rest of the piece. One might add a similar remark about the equally famous Gavotte en Rondeau (originally from the first solo violin Partita) of Bach. I once watched Joseph Silverstein, then concert-master of the Boston Symphony, illustrating for a student the rhythm of the Gavotte by clomping round the room while singing it: dance origins of classical music of course do not always mean gaiety and heavy rhythm, but the lesson gave a new spirit to that otherwise even-tempered piece of Bach. A heavier, exaggerated rhythm for this gavotte now seems natural to me.

Again we experienced the high standard of guitarist/lutenists in Seattle, and the penetrating insights Paul O'Dette, who seemed still at a high energy level after three hours of work.

             -reviewed by Peter Rhines