How much can we hear in a familiar piece when a performer explores it in real depth? In his second All Things Six Strings interview, David Leisner guides us through Bach, Ginastera, Villa-Lobos and Mertz. Focal dystonia is not the main subject here. For me, however, it matters to see the musical world behind his return to playing: the world he was returning to.

Bach after Returning to the Guitar

Leisner connects his 1997 Bach recording with the period shortly after his return from prolonged difficulties with dystonia. It is more than a record of restored technique. In the interview, he explains how many questions concern interpretation itself: what repetition means, what room there is for ornamentation, and how to bring new life to music everyone seemingly knows.

He distinguishes conventional ornaments from broader variation in repeated sections. The first statement may introduce the basic form, while a repeat offers a different detail. This is not an invitation to rewrite a piece arbitrarily. He recalls experiences and encounters with musicians that led him towards a historically informed yet lively approach.

An example from the Bourrée anglaise in Bach's flute partita, transcribed for guitar, raises the question of whether a second hearing reveals the same thing or a new way of shaping a voice. For my own listening, I take away a simple task: follow the relationship between an initial statement and its return, rather than merely counting correctly played notes.

Ginastera and the Playfulness Hidden in Difficulty

Discussing Ginastera's sonata, Leisner remembers working personally with the composer around the time of the Geneva competition. Through that encounter, technically complex music acquired a specific character. Behind the composer's outward seriousness, he found humour, imagination and teasing playfulness, qualities that also matter in the Scherzo.

I consider this an important observation about interpretation. A piece's difficulty can make the performer experience it mainly as an obstacle course. But the audience should hear more than the effort needed to master it. They also need to hear why the music is written this way: restlessness, surprise, lightness or a joke.

Villa-Lobos: Simplicity Is Not Emptiness

Heitor Villa-Lobos's Third Prelude turns our attention in another direction. Rather than an impressive display of technique, it opens space for lyricism, time and relationships between notes. Leisner discusses the value of this focused simplicity. A familiar piece is not necessarily exhausted because we hear it often.

For me, the important point is that depth is not a reward available only after speed. A note can matter because of how it follows another, how long it lasts and how its colour changes. For a musician unable to use their full technical resources, this is a valuable reminder of the breadth of musical work. It does not mean a slow piece automatically makes suitable rehabilitation material.

One Guitar, Different People

The interview briefly turns to Leisner's 1982 John Gilbert guitar. He describes his long relationship with one instrument and why it suits him. He also recalls how another instrument sounded different in the hands of different players, including Emanuele Segre.

My conclusion is not about finding the best brand. Instrument and person influence one another. Listening to someone else can usefully complement our impression of our own playing, but another person's excellent result does not mean everyone has the same conditions. In hand technique too, admiration should not become imitation without thought.

Mertz and the Imagination of Sound

Mertz's Hungarian Fantasy opens a world of rhythmic character, singing quality and imagined sounds. Leisner shows how connections with other instruments or singing can illuminate the music. Imagining a cimbalom or choral expression may give the performer a more concrete task than the vague instruction to 'make it more interesting'.

Such images are not historical proof of a composer's intentions. They are interpretative possibilities to be tested through listening and the score. Leisner also recalls his long commitment to Mertz's repertoire. His aim is not simply to add another name to a programme, but to reveal the quality of neglected music.

Learning from Pianists and Understanding Wider Connections

To understand nineteenth-century repertoire, he recommends looking beyond guitar recordings. The way great pianists handle time, phrasing and character can also illuminate Mertz. Knowledge of a composer's other works, historical context and musical form is similarly helpful.

The task is not to reproduce another instrument literally on the guitar. It is about a broader musical education. A singer can teach continuity of phrasing, a pianist the handling of time, and a string player the shaping of a line. Our own instrument remains the place where that insight must be transformed naturally.

What Remains Available When Playing Is Limited

For readers with FD, I take this conversation as an invitation to work with music beyond repeatedly testing an affected movement. We can compare two interpretations, describe a section's character, listen to a theme's return or record an idea about phrasing. For a blind person, a voice note may be just as appropriate as a written score annotation for a sighted person.

Leisner also discusses the need to turn down some offers to preserve time for important work. That seems as practical to me as technical advice: our capacity is not unlimited. His restored career is more than a list of things his hand can do again. It is a space for deciding what makes musical sense.

Approximate locations in the transcript: 07:08 Bach and repeats; 15:00 Ginastera; 22:00 Villa-Lobos; 27:00 instrument and performer; 31:00 Mertz; 43:00 wider musical connections. Musical excerpts appear between sections of the conversation in the transcript.

Conversation source

• Podcast:All Things Six Strings.
• Episode:David Leisner - Research and Thinking Behind Original Performances of Great Music.
• Interviewer:Rick Cox.
• Guest:David Leisner.
• Published:2021-10-26 at 21:46:28 UTC.
• Platform of the supplied source:Apple Podcasts.
• Listen and programme information: All Things Six Strings – Programme archive; the title and date above identify the episode.
• Source material:the supplied English transcript07 - David-Leisner---Research-and-Thinking-Behind-Original-Performances-of-Great-Music.txt. Obvious automatic transcription errors in names and titles have been corrected editorially; this article is a thematic treatment rather than a verbatim translation.

Another direct source: David Leisner: the book Playing with Ease. Personal experiences and pedagogical opinions in the interview are not a universal treatment for focal dystonia.

David Leisner - all ten interviews

1. David Leisner: less control, more music
2. David Leisner: how to connect the body, the technique and the sense of the composition
3. David Leisner: own musical voice, stage fright and confidence
4. David Leisner: return after dystonia, creation and life support
5. David Leisner on focal dystonia: the first discovery is not the end of the road
6. David Leisner: first man, then guitar
7. David Leisner: What Lies within Bach, Ginastera, Villa-Lobos and Mertz (this article)
8. David Leisner: a wider musical life, exercises and a journey from dystonia
9. David Leisner: music beyond the fingers and the concert
10. David Leisner: Playing with Ease, composition and the joy of cooperation