"Performance" as you call it - giving the squiggles their voice - IS a most productive way of apprehending a text. I am afraid our institutions suffer from an abundance of literary and a dearth of "oracy". READ IT ALOUD! (For a full discussion of this idea, see my PI O - An Appreciation, which will appear on 1 December, 1999, at Suite101.com in the Performing Arts section under "Performance Poetry".) Stoneking ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Caddel <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 6:54 AM Subject: Re: recordings of Ezra > On Wed, 24 Nov 1999 02:40:11 -0500, Christopher Booth wrote: > > > I was in > >college at the time, and had spent some time obssessed with classical piano > >and performance, and felt that the same standards should be applied to > >poetry. So I memorized Canto I, developed my interpretation, and when I went > >home I "performed" > > I aggree so much with this approach - you understand so much more when > you've made the sounds echo in your own head. Of course, no single > "performance" may definitively carry everything from the score (or so > I had to believe during my own shambling musical career!) but all may > be instructive. To perform is to take choices. Even Pound's > later-in-life recordings, when his voice was obviously past its prime, > carry rhythmic and tonal sense which - to my mind - is more valuable > than the highly mannered (if "correct") realisation of Canto 1 which > we've been discussing. > > >[I just can't > >imagine Canto I in an uninflected conversational tone > > - but the recording of Mauberley - made at the same time as the Canto > 1 recording - does do something significantly different with the > "grand manner" - i.e. it heightens it into almost-parody. So that, to > my ears, a poetry which could handle a bit of conversational > flexibility is intoned, a la Yeats and then some... Even though I > agree with all the quality of the Canto 1 recording which Chris Booth > presents, it's that moment when the inflexibility of the earlier style > passes that particularly interests me. > > >Bunting... > > - polite plug: in January Bloodaxe Books will publish a new > (centenary) ed. of B's Complete Poems, accompanied by a 2-vol tape > compilation of yer man reading his work. For anyone who can't wait, > there's a 7-vol tapeset available from Richard Swigg, English Dept, > University of Keele. But this doesn't let anyone off from sounding the > poems themselves... > > >It is also true that few composers are good performers of their own work, > > - I'll offer Ben Britten as a contrary example here, whilst not > disputing the general point. At many of the poetry readings I've > organised, The Poet has so significantly mismanaged the sound of > his/her own work as to put me right off it... and I recall, way back, > having to ask Philip Larkin, via his secretary, to read for us: "Oh > no," I was told "Mr. Larkin NEVER gives readings." To which I replied, > Oh good, as I hung up the phone... > > > The exquisite delicate rarified beauty of the > >Drafts and Fragments, the haunting music of the Pisan Cantos, the perfection > >of _In the Station of the Metro_, the rocky jagged berglike textures of _The > >Seafarer_; what happens when they are brought to life in the air, in EP's > >voice, or others'? > > - I'll - predictably - second this concern. I'd note that poetry > recording - tho increasing - is still rare, and that public poetry > reading didn't really take off (in the UK, certainly) until the 60's, > and that for most people in a learning situation poetry is still > page-poetry, even when the poet has stressed the importance of "music" > at one level or another in his/her work. Quoth BB: "Reading in silence > is the source of half the misconceptions that have caused the public > to distrust poetry." And as more and more poets become able to record, > it's important to remember that we don't have to view their versions > as definative to the exclusion of others: it's important - to me - > that we regain the art of reading the things aloud for ourselves. > > I think it should be possible to trace (tentatively) a provisional > descent of poetry reading style running roughly Yeats > Pound > > Bunting, and on to some of the younger UK poets. Gathering the > evidence is not as simple as one might think, and tho I've heard many > recordings of Pound (for instance) gathering accurate ascriptions for > them (many have been - uh - "informally loaned" by friends) can be a > nightmare. Noting the exemplary edition of Schwerner's The Tablets > from NPF, with CD selection inside back cover, could we press for a > remastered CD selection of EP reading to accompany future publication > of the Cantos? > > Thanks for all the responses to this thread - I too think it's > important, and value everyone's take on it. 'Pologies for lengthy > post. > > RC >