ABSTRACT
A composer's performance may be an excellent guide to interpretation, but never an infallible one. A simple attempt to reproduce a previous execution leaves no place for the range of freedom of interpretation which is an essential part of all music, except, of course, electronic compositions. Constraint and freedom in the performance of new music play roles somewhat different from those in playing works of the past. In Carter's work, where strictness is necessary is at the junction of two rhythmic systems. In the Sonata for Cello and Piano, the rhythm of the first movement invades the finale towards the end, making an accent every fifth sixteenth-note or semiquaver in the piano while the cello continues its pattern of four notes to the beat. In interpreting a work of twentieth-century music, one can emphasize its radical nature, or can try to indicate its nineteenth-century origins.
