All three versions of the piece have enormously different tempos, which is the major component that differentiates the versions from one another. When Ozawa conducts the piece, he keeps a fast, consistent tempo. In doing so, it allows him to drastically stress ritardandos and therefore create a huge, beautifully slow sound. On the other hand when Simonis performs the piece he takes the tempo way down and keeps it consistently slow throughout. This works to illustrate the details of the piece more clearly as they can be heard fully; the inner workings of the piece will be less ambiguous. For example, while in Ozawa’s version a small 1st violin part may be rushed through and hidden, Simonis’ version will bring that part out as the listener has more time to process it. In Jansons’ version of Danse Diabolique, he maintains an intermediate tempo—not too fast or too slow*throughout the whole piece, and speeds up near the ending. An intermediate tempo to start results in a lot of variation of tempo (i.e., slightly faster and slower than the start tempo), though the tempo never leans to one extreme or the other.
A paragraph of a compare and contrast essay.
16-Oct-2013 04:32:59