Expert: Gary Goldberg Date: 7/13/2008 Subject: musical interpretation
Question I am learning to play Bach's Partita no 2 Sinfonia.
Would it be a rule to use Staccato in this piece or is one's own interpretation appropriate.
Answer I almost declined to answer the question because I'm not a performer myself and I don't know the piece (nor am I particularly knowledgeable about Bach's music) but the question has relevance to the subject of performance in general.
You didn't mention where you were going to play the piece. If in public you might be criticized if your interpretation was markedly different from the score or the most common interpretations.
Yet, famous conductors like Stokowski were (in)famous for occasional radical interpretations,
some Russian pianists have been accused of "romanticizing" Bach, etc.
Your dilemma may also boil down to the problem of finding a new and "valid" (whatever that means to the audience) approach to music that is hundreds of years old and which has been played by tens of thousands before you.
