The twelve essays in this volume reflect the most important trends in the study of musical performance. Three areas are investigated: the psychology of performance, the semantics of performance, and the relation between performance and analysis. The first section broaches fundamental issues such as text, expression, musical motion and the role of practice in the acquisition of expertise. The next four chapters address the shaping of structure and the projection of meaning in performance, while the last four consider performance as analytical paradigm, as dramatic narrative, as act of criticism, as temporal process. Among the distinguished international authorship are many accomplished performers whose practical experience ensures that the book contains vital and stimulating insights into the interpretation of music, and that it will speak to a wide musical audience.
Preface; Part I. Fundamentals: 1. What do we perform? Roy Howat; 2. Expression in performance: generativity, perception and semiosis Eric Clarke; 3. Musical motion and performance: theoretical and empirical perspectives Patrick Shove and Bruno H. Repp; 4. Deliberate practice and elite musical performance Ralf Th. Krampe and K. Anders Ericsson; Part II. Structure and Meaning in Performance: 5. The conductor and the theorist: Furtwängler, Schenker and the first movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Nicholas Cook; 6. A curious moment in Schumann's Fourth Symphony: structure as the fusion of affect and intuition David Epstein; 7. Beginning-ending ambiguity: consequences of performance choices Janet M. Levy; 8. Strategies of irony in Prokofiev's Violin Sonata in F minor Op. 80 Ronald Woodley; Part III. Performance and Process: 9. Performance and analysis: interaction and interpretation Joel Lester; 10. Analysis and the act of performance William Rothstein; 11. The pianist as critic Edward T. Cone; 12. Playing in time: rhythm, metre and tempo in Brahms's Fantasien Op. 116 John Rink; Index.
