Ansermet Interview

Chesterman: Out of these various points you mention, would you say the most difficult thing of all, perhaps, to convey properly to an orchestra is that of rhythm?

Ansermet: Yes. The whole question is that the conductor must understand that the musical time is not a metric time. That is contrary to what is taught in many schools, because they see always the written beat; but every beat is already a cadence. The beat is only marked by a crotchet or a dotted crotchet. In the first case the crotchet is the value of two quavers. In the second the dotted crotchet has the value of three quavers, and so it is already a cadence. So the single beat of the conductor indicates the cadence, and that is the first question. The conductor doesn't beat the time, he beats the cadence. That is the point.

Me: I don't understand what Ansermet is saying here, particulary his use of the term 'cadence'. Can someone help me out?

Cheers!

Brian Stewart

i am just listening to a few ansermet cds. reading the notes, he was born 1883 and died 1969. so the interview is a year before his death.

my impression is that most of this recordings, ravel, debussy, stravinsky...dated from 1955 and after, like the beethoven in the 1960s. so he was over 70 ! when most of his recordings took place. and his beethoven tempo is so swift, by his age !

questions : did he record a lot for decca before 1955 ? are the major french/russian repertiore that are available now (and also the big box set in the early 90s) some kind of stereo replacement for early mono ?