Performance, Repertoire and Interpretation
This domain covers the knowledge that supports prepared performance and the discussion of repertoire: how notation translates into sound, how period and style shape interpretation, and how to write programme notes that analyse the music rather than retell a biography.
Ornament realisation
- Trill: in Baroque music it normally begins on the upper auxiliary unless the context demands otherwise; the speed and termination follow the style and the edition.
- Mordent and turn: written signs are realised on the beat, occupying time from the principal note.
- Appoggiatura: a value-taking ornament. Before a dotted note the standard Classical rule (Quantz, C. P. E. Bach) gives the ornament two-thirds of the value.
Tempo and expression terms
Largo, adagio, andante, moderato, allegro, presto mark relative speed, not metronome figures; con moto, meno mosso and rubato modify it. Terms such as dolce, espressivo, sostenuto and smorzando shape articulation and tone rather than tempo.
Worked example
A Classical slow movement prints a small grace note before a dotted crotchet. Reasoning: this is an appoggiatura, not an acciaccatura to be crushed in. It takes two-thirds of the principal note's value - so the ornament sounds for a crotchet and the principal note for a quaver. Playing it as a snap would misrepresent the period's notation.
Programme notes that score well
State the work, composer and date; name the form and key; identify the main themes and how they are transformed; point to one or two distinctive harmonic or textural features; mention the edition used if it affects the reading.
Traps
- Adding Romantic rubato and heavy vibrato to Baroque repertoire.
- Treating every grace note as an acciaccatura.
- Filling programme notes with birth dates and anecdotes instead of musical analysis.
- Ignoring marked repeats or taking them inconsistently within one movement.
- Choosing repertoire that duplicates keys, tempi or periods and makes a recital sound monochrome.