TEMPO AND RACHMANINOFF'S ‘CORELLI’ VARIATIONS

Extract

Of all the different ingredients that combine to make up a musical performance, it often seems that the one which reveals most, and most extreme, variation is – tempo. Subject as it is also to various non-musical factors – such as acoustics; size of the locale; technical or instrumental limitations – as well as to other somewhat equally subjective conditions such as taste; historical or supposed authenticity; even fashion – this is hardly surprising. Maelzel's invention of his metronome almost two centuries ago has not necessarily succeeded in bringing order into chaos; it is notoriously difficult to set this device to give an incontrovertibly accurate answer to every question. (It is also known that some composers have possessed a metronome which, apparently being mechanically unsound, has raised more questions than it has answered.)