Transcriptions of L. Stokovsky and M. Pletnev Toccatives and Fugues in D minor BWV565 I. S. Bach as a reflection of the dynamics of the development of the romantic tendencies of performing art of the XX–XXI centuries.
With all the diversites of performing art creative shades performing art of the last century, several of the most important vectors of devel-opment can be still identified. It is referred to the trends generated by new com-positional techniques which require performers not only to have specific playing skills on a particular instrument, but also to act as a co-author of the work. How-ever, along with this, the traditions that sprout from previous eras, in particular, Baroque and Romanticism, retain their influence. Our choice of these epochs is determined by the enormous influence that they exerted on the performing arts of the 20th and 21st centuries. In this article we will try to see into, how exactly the influence of these two epochs is connected with the real musical art. At the same time, the objectof our research is the style of musical creativity, and the subjectis the influence of romantic art on the interpretation of music of the Baroque era. The aim of the workis to study the dynamics of the development of romantic tendencies of per-forming arts on the example of L. Stokovsky’s and M. Pletnev’s transcriptions of I. S. Bach’s Toccata and fugue d‑moll BWV565. Famously, the creative interpretation of I. S. Bach’s heritage of has led to the emergence of a huge number of transcriptions, most of which are written for keyboard instruments, for piano in particular (the transcriptions by C. Czerny, F. Liszt, I. Brahms, F. Busoni), which is not surprising considering key nature of the author’s text. Unlike the common tradition, some Bach’s clavier works were re-arranged for the orchestra. We find such opuses in the works of E. Elgar, A. We-bern, G. Mahler, A. Schoenberg, O. Respighi, A. Onegger, M. Reger, etc. Among treatments and transcriptions of Bach’s music, Toccata and fugue d‑moll BWV 565 occupy a special place. In addition to the expected versions (for example, for piano and accordion) you can meet also quite unexpected ones – for electric guitar or jazz orchestra. The main theme of Toccata and fugue d-moll also sounds in pop music (for example, in an arrangement made by Paul Mauriat). In our work we will study the orchestral versions of L. Stokowski and M. Pletnev in more detail. Conductor L. Stokowski created one of the first transcriptions of Toccata for the symphony orchestra. In 1930s, it was recorded together with Philadelphia Sympho-ny Orchestra for the cartoon “Fantasy” directed by Walt Disney. A distinctive fea-ture of of L. Stokowski’s adaptation is its romantic orientation and cinematographic thinking, which, in general, peculiar for his whole creativity. Recording music for the cinema requires a special approach, which we can clearly see in L. Stokowski’s interpretation of I. S. Bach’s Toccata and fugue d‑moll BWV 565 for cartoon “Fanta-sy”. These features are manifested in several points, the first of which is determined by a special setting on the possibility of sound recording technology. This deter-mined, including the choice of timbres for specific Toccata topics. The main ones are given to a string band, the sound of which, famously, is associated with human voice. Lyrical, emotionally colored intonation underlined by long phrasing and ap-plication of vibrato, changes the appearance of the work, smoothing out its genre (accented) basis. In addition to the string group, a great role in L. Stokowski’s con-cept is played by wind instruments that provide a scale, close to Wagnerian sound in tutti episodes. Another important point is the dramatic line built in such a way that almost every episode sounds at its own tempo, which increases the feeling of fantasy. In addition, from the position of the present day, the abundance of dynamic shades, which violates the principle of terraced dynamics, which is special baroque music, surprises. Nevertheless, we are sure that L. Stokowski’s translation played a huge role in the popularization of Bach’s music. In any case, it can be confidently asserted that M. Pletnev was familiar with this version of the work and, perhaps, it was it which prompted the maestro to create his own translation. Nevertheless, in our opinion, the main difference between the Pletnevian transposition of I. S. Bach’s Toccata for the orchestra, is dictated precisely by the desire to get to the baroque manner of sound production as close as possible, with a characteristic feeling of sound shortness (in fact, speech intonation) and con-trasting of textured layers imitating the temple antiphons.Hence, the instrumentation differs from the of L. Stokowski’s version in which the themes are given to wind instruments. Note that this not only brings the sound closer to the organ one, but also answers the German musical tradition with its enthusiasm for wind instruments. In addition, the specificity of the wind sound extraction is more suitable for transferring the toccata beginning. It is no accident that the first toccata in the history of the musical art was written for wind instru-ments. String band is used by M. Pletnev only for the development of musical material. Speaking of the metric side, it must be said about the smoothness of the tempo and the absence of agogic liberties. Indeed, this arrangement is an example of the most careful attitude to the author’s text, while the genre of transcription itself and an indication on its “con-certiveness” provoke the virtuoso potential of the work. Comparing the versions of M. Pletnev and L. Stokowsky, we shall note that, in spite of all the differences they reflect the romantic principle of transcription of musical material. L. Stokowski’s adaptation can be called a typical example of a romantic worldview that dominated in the early and middle 20th century. M. Pletnev’s transcription written more than half a century later, continues the romantic tradition but absorbs the principles of aligning the sounding fabric gen-erated by neo-baroque tendencies with their characteristic clarity of texture, mod-eration of dynamic contrasts, tempo stability.