A Musical Way of Life
Performance Lectures Today
Since Temianka's passing in 1992, lecture-recitals, concert introductions, and performance commentaries have become significantly more popular and accepted in the public sphere.Technology has continued to embrace and metamorphize music commentary, much like Temianka wished to do in his time. Music podcasts, concert livestreams, digital music forums, and streaming shows have allowed everyday listeners to dive deeper into music appreciation.
In some ways, it's harder today to avoid lecture-recitals, performance commentaries, or music analyses than it is to find them.
Temianka's Unique Style
Temianka articulated to his audiences that composers and their own creations were a product of their time. It could also be said that his lectures are uniquely the product of his own life, from performing as a soloist to conducting symphonies at Royce Hall.Most strikingly, Temianka's holistic lecture-style broke new ground when it portrayed a conductor's thoughts and experiences as valid musical commentary and discourse aspects. Temianka saw his relationship with the music he performed and lectured about as inseparable from himself. Not discussing his thoughts on the piece or how he came to understand the work would ignore a significant aspect of how a performer approaches their work.
For Temianka, this more personal approach to performance lectures affirmed that music is indeed a way of life.