When searching Google for György Ligeti’s 6 Bagatelles, the first video to pop up is the Carion Wind quintet playing the piece in an unusual music-video type setting. This performance includes heavy choreography, extensive use of camera angles, and almost comical interactions among the performers.
I think that this music video enhances the music itself, as the choreography attached to the performance matches the character of the music. In general, the interactions of the performers reflect and clarify the interactions of musical lines within the piece. For example, in the second movement of the piece, the performers file into a single line so that only the oboist is seen from the camera angle. The oboe begins the piece solo, and as other instruments enter, they step sideway into view of the camera. In the beginning of the third movement, the bassoon and clarinet have a quintuplet ostinato that is meant to sound independent of the free-flowing flute solo. In the video, the clarinetist and bassoonist stand in the back of the ensemble and make intense eye contact with each other while the flautist faces the camera. Likewise in the fourth movement, the flute soloist stands out in front to begin the piece, while the other four instruments form a separate quartet on the other side of the room. This adds something that a normal performance setting might lack; the choreography brings forth voice pairings and melodic conversations that may be missed, especially by a person new to this work. The camera angles and video editing also play a large role in this video. In the first movement alone, the frame changes on average once every five seconds. Its purpose is either to show the entire ensemble, or focus on a soloist or the interaction between a pair of performers.
As a comparison, here is a video of the same work performed in a traditional setting: five musician sitting in a semicircle with music stands.
In the comment section of this video, it was not hard to find contrasting opinions about the choreography. In fairness, the video demonstrates a blatantly planned combination of footwork and camera angles. There are only extremes in the choreography, not just conservatively memorized music. Two very simple yet contrasting comments are, “Amazingly done. The visual aspect of this video really helps represent their interpretation of [Ligeti’s] work. A great piece, with great players,” and, “Am I the only one who thinks the clowning distracts from the music? If I see someone goofing off, I’m going to assume the music is a joke as well.” While one user finds that the choreography is helpful in understanding the piece, another user labels it distracting. The solution in this particular case reveals itself in the fact that the quality of playing is extremely high, and thus the performance is extremely valuable. If one finds it distracting, they can simply not look at it. However, this video, in addition to providing a great performance of the work, provides an interesting and useful tool for understanding the music in a new way.
My favorite comment comes from one of the foremost authorities on 20th century classical music, the YouTube user “New Music Kitties.” This user states, “Unfortunately, by [supporting] this tasteless choreographic stunt… you are helping the worldwide loss of class metastasize in our society. We are losing touch with basic aesthetic values of classical music… To the ensemble: don’t sell your talent and playing quality to banalities that will draw attention to your ensemble. To the public: don’t buy into banalities and circus tricks!! In shorter terms: these are clowns. Extremely talented, but nevertheless, clowns. And in general, that makes this performance utter nauseating crap.”
Comments that decry choreography are based on a missed conception of the piece, composer, and probably classical music as a whole. Also some music lends itself more to these kind of performance options. Ligeti’s 6 Bagatelles, fitting into his generally quirky style of composition, is a relatively comical piece to begin with; its sharp contrast of voices and harmonies paint many sections as humorous. After all, according to the Grove Online Music Dictionary, a Bagatelle is “a trifle, a short piece of music in light vein.” Thus, I think this video and its extreme choreography do no disservice to the piece itself. I would even imagine that Ligeti would have liked this video.
As a testament to this ensembles sensitivity to the music in terms of their choice of choreograph and music video making, here is a performance of a different work, the Nielsen quintet. While they still interact with each other, they preserve the more serious and reserved nature of the music.
On a larger scale, this video and the reaction in the comments reveal a larger question: Is classical music suited for such interactive performances, specifically “music videos”? I think the utmost determining factor of any performance is the quality of music making. After that, I believe performers should feel free to perform in any manner as long as the intent is to clarify the music itself. The “seriousness” of classical music performance is something that was constructed in the first place; it is not inherently part of the music. Though there may be critics, untraditional performance videos like this appeal to a wider audience.