Is Diversity in Musical Performance Truly in Decline? The Evidence of Sound Recordings

In the contemporary literature on recorded performance, the standard view is that today there is less diversity among interpretations of concert-hall music than in the first decades of the twentieth century.1 When explaining this lack of diversity, commentators generally point to specific record industry practices and the way performers use sound recordings. It is often claimed that with the advent of the tape recorder and the increased opportunity for editing, technical precision has become the over-riding factor in performance, which results in a less risky, more uniform approach to interpretation. It is also maintained that younger performers learn pieces by listening to records rather than studying scores, which fosters imitation over individual interpretation. There is considerable argument supporting the claim of reduced diversity in contemporary performance. It is undeniable that the recording business expects proficiency and efficiency in keeping production costs down. Artists often need to repeat performances at the same tempo and in the same vain otherwise editing becomes almost impossible. Preferred, of course, is a performance that can be recorded quickly and which requires little editing. This fosters the ‘be reliable, play it safe and accurate’ mentality. So it is easy to see how these technical demands lead to a situation where performance, which is expected to be ephemeral and unrepeatable, becomes routine. One of the factors influencing concert performance practice and national or other schools of performance traditions since the last decades of the twentieth century is the mobility of performers and conductors. In the 1970s musicians generally trained in their home country, but nowadays young players travel the world and take degrees at various conservatories in different countries, even continents, and they seek employment internationally.