In the Quest for Variety
Analysis of Performances of the Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite no. 4, BWV 1011
Abstract
Variety in musical performance has been considered something natural on the instrumentalist front (Godlovitch, 1988; Margulis, 2014; Smith, 1993). Indeed, research on this topic has focused on both the performative patterns that vary over the course of a given performance (Rink, Spiro, and Gold 2011) and the different performances of a given piece (Fabian 2015; Fabian and Ornoy 2009; Llorens 2018; 2021b; Ornoy 2008). However, in most cases, a discussion of this has mostly involved secondary comments and very rarely has been the focus of the research. To fill this gap, this article investigates the interpretive techniques by which eighteen cellists create a sense of variety in a very regular musical context: the Prelude from the Suite for Cello Solo, No. 4, in E-flat Major, by J. S. Bach. The analysis addresses three main issues in each recording: a) the varying duration proportions between the various notes within each measure and the patterns that emerge; b) the importance of dynamics in sustaining, compensating for, or even nullifying the effect of a); and c) the relatively unstable approaches in the intonation of specific intervals in the Prelude. Ultimately, this research brings new case studies to the theorization of variety in pseudo-perpetual motion music, unequivocally placing performance as a critical element of music theory.
