Annotation for Berry, Wallace
Annotation (by Jessica Corbin):
- Berry reviews Cone's book while commenting on (and at times
disagreeing with) some of the rhythmic statements that Cone makes
throughout. Berry applauds Cone's attempt to answer some difficult
questions througout these essays, but criticizes Cone of not suggesting
much in the way of performance issues and the interpretive consequences
of the analyses. After remarking on some of Cone's statements regarding
characteristics of certain styles (for example, sequences in the Baroque
style vs. sequences in the Romantic style), Berry begins to argue with
some of Cone's ideas regarding rhythm. Berry contradicts Cone's idea of
the four-bar phrase as a rhythmic, not a metric (or strict) entity,
saying that the four-bar phrase is a metric unit at the phrase
level. He goes on to say that meter is one aspect of rhythm, and
therefore the four-bar phrase may be as flexible and variable as, for
example, the surface rhythm in a single measure. Another disagreement
Berry has is with Cone's concept that most compositions are nothing more
than a large extended upbeat followed by its downbeat, saying that at
times this large a level of perception is difficult, and my leave the
details of the foreground (surface rhythm, etc.) a bit blurred. One of
Berry's most central argurmnts is with Cone's idea that all motion in a
phrase leads to its terminal accent, the cadence. Berry suggests that
the cadence is only strong when the composer imposes upon it an accent
that takes precedence over the weaker cadence, as in elision. Two of
the Cone analyses that Berry criticizes are those of Mozart K. 331 and
Chopin A-major Prelude, Op. 28/7. Although Berry disagrees with Cone on
some issues, overall he views the book as articulate and assertive, and
"packed with substance of great importance." (p.289)
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