Thursday, April 25, 1996
Lutentist brings long forgotten sound
of centuries past back to Schoenberg
By Elizabeth Bull
Daily Bruin Contributor
Step back into Elizabethan England and the Italian Renaissance
this weekend with the soothing harmony and lively melody of
lutenist Paul O’Dette.
"The way the imagination can travel back to another era when
hearing the lute is amazing," O’Dette says. "There is a certain
quality to the lute that puts one in a time capsule but at the same
time it doesn’t sound at all out of place today. It’s every bit as
fresh and original today as it was when it was written."
O’Dette hopes to show the lute’s vitality, as well as its
history, to the UCLA campus when he performs Saturday at Schoenberg
Hall. The lute, which was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries,
died out in the 18th century with the advent of the classical
guitar and popularity of orchestras. It’s been a rarity in music
ever since.
"The biggest challenge in giving lute recitals is getting people
to the concert because there is a perception that anything written
in the 16th century must be terribly slow and boring," O’Dette
explains.
Blair Sullivan, a musicologist with the UCLA Center for Medieval
and Renaissance Studies agrees.
"Sadly, the lute is usually only popular as a period
instrument," she says. "In its time, though, it was what the guitar
is today. But I firmly believe that if an audience likes music at
all it cannot help but love the lute because it’s accessible,
tuneful and totally delightful."
O’Dette is also optimistic about the lute’s comeback and hopes
his concert at UCLA will turn some students and faculty on to the
instrument.
"I do find that people who come to the concerts are amazed by
the beauty of the sound of the instrument and the variety of the
music which runs the gamut from very slow, soulful ballads to
extremely lively virtuosos with a lot of jazzy rhythms," O’Dette
says.
And to O’Dette, this beauty and soul is definitely needed in our
modern world.
"These days when the pace of life is so frantic, fast-paced and
maximum intensity, I think that music with such subtlety and
complexity at a low volume is much better than music that tries to
hit you over the head with more volume and intensity," O’Dette
says. "The marvelous thing about the lute is that it’s such a
soothing, calming instrument."
O’Dette fell in love with the lute "at first chord" as a
teenager and has since studied throughout Europe. Currently he’s
the director of early music at the Eastman School and hads made
more than 85 recordings. This weekend he will perform works from
Italian composers Simone Molinaro and Giovanni Antonio Terzi as
well as the great English composer, John Dowland.
"It’s a combination of some very attractive tuneful dance music,
a few very serious and sophisticated pieces, then a group by a very
wacky composer, Terzi, who wanted to do the impossible on the
instrument," he says. "It has everything from the most profound
laments that will bring tears to your eyes to the liveliest jigs
that makes the listener want to get up and dance."
Sullivan, who will give the CenterStage lecture before the
performance, plans to speak about the variety of pieces for the
instrument  there are over 50,000  and the history of
the great composers.
"What he will play represents the very best that anyone can do
with the instrument because beyond this the music begins to
overload the instrument or the instrument begins to overload the
music," she explains.
"This is the height of what the composers and musicians could do
and I believe Paul O’Dette is easily the best player in the world
today. It’s a perfect combination."
O’Dette takes little credit for his own success as a lutenist,
concluding that the lute’s small but faithful following is simply
due to both the complicated and sincere nature of its sound.
"In the Renaissance people didn’t have to choose sides as is so
often the case today," he says. "Music was simply music and people
loved music that was complex and difficult to understand as well as
music that was immediate  that they could understand at first
hearing. The lute created music that struck a responsive chord
right away."
It has everything from the most profound laments that will bring
tears to your eyes to the liveliest jigs that makes the listener
want to get up and dance."
MUSIC: Paul O’Dette plays Saturday at 8 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall.
Tickets are $9 for students with a valid ID. CenterStage lecture
begins one hour prior to show. For more information call (310)
825-2101.