Analytical Coherence and Performance Regulation
A. B. Fleischer, Thomas E. Noll · Journal of New Music Research · 2002
The article discusses collective performance of score-based music at two levels of description: collective behavior and musical score. Two specifications of the concept of coherence are presented. Intentional coherence applies to the intentionality of a performing ensemble and characterizes the way how distributed collective knowledge about a piece regulates a performance. Analytical coherence applies to the results of two or more analytical perspectives on the same score. The construction of artificial performance transformations on the basis of analytical data provides a suitable experimental approach in order to investigate the concept of analytical coherence empirically. As a special case, we present the concept of metrical coherence and apply it to choir fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach as well as to passages in the symphonies of Johannes Brahms.