How can a performance of Shostakovich’ piano quintet be dramatized by using words, movements, staging and lighting?

Laura Lunansky

Student Number 3026329 Supervisor(s) Andrew Wright, Maggie Urquhart Title De Formule Research Question How can a performance of Shostakovich’ piano quintet be dramatized by using words, movements, staging and lighting? Summary This research was carried out in and through the practice and performances of ensemble ‘de Formule’, a piano quintet in which we both play the violin. As a result of this research, our goal was to perform the Shostakovich piano quintet in a dramatized way, which we did in 2018. The research text describes the internal research process. By looking at (historical) sources about the composer and the piece, and by analyzing the score we got an impression of the context and atmosphere of the quintet, and we created a story to go with it. We found that the piece fitted today’s very important topic about finding your identity within the (mass) society, knowing the history of Shostakovich’ own struggles and the expressions he creates in his melodies, harmonies, instrumentation etc.: sometimes searching, sometimes dragged along in sarcastic happiness and sometimes screaming for help. All these elements we used to conduct the research process, which included translation of the story lines and expressions into movements, words, light effects and different stagings. As a result of this dramatization, we noticed that the audience seemed to understand the music better, and for ourselves, the performance was a more meaningful experience. Short Bio Coraline Groen obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Her teachers have included Vera Beths, Peter Brunt and Philippe Graffin in The Hague, and Rodney Friend at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Groen was a member of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Academy 2018-2019 and played with the Bayrische Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra and the Residentie Orchestra. She was appointed principal of the second violins of the NJO, the RAM Symphony Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Academy Orchestra. Groen is a member of the Volkmann Trio, De Formule, and a duo with bayan player Robbrecht Van Cauwenberghe.

Other research on dramatized performances from the score

When looking for performances of the Shostakovich piano quintet, mostly recordings of festival performances are to be found. These are most of the time rehearsed and performed for that occasion and not taken into a deeper research, simply because of the fact that there are barely any fixed piano quintets existing. Usually a pianist will ask a string quartet, vice versa, or the programmer of a festival will connect them. Therefore, on the subject of how to dramatize the Shostakovich piano quintet, we have no sources to ask for help.
Research on movements by the musician during a classical music performance has been done before. When reading the research exposition ‘Dancing About Music’ by Isa Goldschmeding (2016), we read about how “...movement is also invaluable to musicians. In addition to the obvious benefits for the performer as related to musical meaning and expression, benefits that are then shared by the audience, there is also the visual aspect of this approach to performing music with conscious movements: an aspect that is of great value when connecting, sharing, and communicating with audiences.”² This is something we completely agree with after performing music with a dramatisation. There is a difference, though; Goldschmeding is focussing on the movements that develop from natural reflexes in the body when playing the instrument. This is, according to her study, a very powerful tool, and one that we can really use in our performance. However, we are looking for a choreography - movements in a theatrical way - that serves the story, based on the score and the expressions we feel and not necessarily on the bodily reflexes we have when playing our instrument. Trying this would also be quite a challenge because we all play different instruments which would cause different reflex movements, probably ending up in a chaotic image.

On the subject of movements of the musician we can find more; Martje van Damme researches ‘Deliver the meaning – Performance expression in a physical shape’ in which she asks: “how are physical movements related to the expression in music?”. She finds out that “the physical movements are often parallel to the meaning of the music. The performance expression increases by the exaggeration of physical gestures. In the future I will be more aware when the exaggerated approach is effective and in which passages it is better to use a reduced approach. I investigated that physical gestures determine the performance expression by the increasing or decreasing parameters, such as dynamics, timing and tempo and distinguish one interpretation from another, considering the quantity of physical gestures.”³Again, this research is more about reflex movements, not ending up in a choreography like Goldschmedings research, but during playing without having the intention to have movements as an extra language like a thought choreography. She looks at the movements she makes naturally without thinking about them and then decides if they add or not. So this is not exactly what we are looking for, but it is good to realise that movement in any way is important, also when we are making those natural movements that are not written down in the choreography in certain passages.

Alistair Sung investigates: “Can a reconsideration of presentation, programming and audience relationship influence the response to classical music?” which coordinates with our goal: to reach new audiences and to improve the connection with the audience. We also want to do that by reconsidering those issues he addresses. It is interesting to see that he chooses to program a cello sonata by Shostakovich because of the historical context: “This work is often associated with the highly tumultuous period in Shostakovich’s life during which he was divorced from his wife after having an affair and immediately before he was targeted by Russian authorities. In order to highlight these themes, a short video segue will be used. The main purpose of this will be to establish a mood or atmosphere. Text will be used to provide historical context while stock footage of Stalinist Russia will also be included to provide visual support. The video will end as the opening notes of the piece begin.”⁴ He uses the video about Shostakovich set an atmosphere for the piece, something that we also could do. However, we like more to put the idea of our performances in the present, while knowing the historical context, which we will discuss in the next chapter. The same atmosphere in a different case. Next to that, he found that different staging added to the experience of the listener, a feature we also want to experiment with.

From these researches we already know that movements have a big impact on the music for player and audience, and staging will add to the experience. A good starting point for our research!

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