#19 - Specific Reference, Must be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[akanshachandra]

So for this answer I chose E.. But to be honest I didn't really understand any of the answer choices and what they were getting at. I don't understand why D is the correct answer. Could someone explain the meaning behind the third paragraph? I probably am not interpreting it correctly, which is why I got the answer wrong. Thanks!

[nicholaspavic]

Hi akansha!

The key to understanding this passage and the way that it's working is realize that the last line of the first paragraph is really an introduction to what's to follow in the next two paragraphs. "Nevertheless, the early music approach to performance raises profound and troubling questions." That sets up what is to come and realize that the author is criticizing the "early music approach" which musicians are making.

So by the time we get to the third paragraph, the author's specific example of:

"The discovery that Haydn's and Mozart's symphonies were conducted during their lifetimes by a pianist who played the chords to keep the (40) orchestra together has given rise to early music recordings in which a piano can be heard obtrusively in the foreground, despite evidence indicating that the orchestral piano was virtually inaudible to audiences at eighteenth-century (45) concerts and was dropped as musically unnecessary when a better way to beat time was found."

is meant to highlight that we are not always making "true" recordings of the music as it was heard during Haydn and Mozart's lifetimes. Thus Answer (D) "By making audible the sound of an orchestral piano that was inaudible in eighteenth-century performances, these recordings unwittingly create music that is unlike what eighteenth-century audiences heard" summarizes the author's take on the orchestral piano issue quite well.

But also notice, Answer Options (A), (B), (C) and (E) are trying to get you to make inferences that are not actually there. Do not make undue inferences in the RC section (or anywhere else for that matter) on this test. Answer Choice (A) may be the closest outside of (D) to a viewpoint that is expressed by the author, but note that in (A) the author never goes so far as to say that the " recordings fail to recognize that the last movements of Haydn’s and Mozart’s symphonies were often played slower in the eighteenth century than they are played today." Rather, that may happen in some recording but it may not as well. We simply don't know!

Thansk for the great question!

[na02]

I chose C because I thought (to phrase D) that the recordings created music unlike it "unwittingly" is not necessarily true (they knew pianos would have been unheard - or is this the author thinking?)
Also, what would "aesthetic integrity" mean in this case? I took it to mean visual integrity (as in, since there's a piano keeping time on the music sheet, they played it, even though historically it would have been unheard).

Many thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

Aesthetics aren't just visual, na02, but are about artistic beauty in all its forms, including sound. If the early music folks were "attempt(ing) to achieve aesthetic integrity at the expense of historical authenticity", that would mean they were working so hard to make the music sound right that they were doing things that were historically inaccurate. What the passage describes is exactly the opposite of that! They are placing historical accuracy (the playing of an orchestral piano) ahead of aesthetic integrity (making it sound the way it should). If the early music advocates cared about aesthetic accuracy, they probably would have left the piano out altogether!

[StayinAlive]

Hi, I understand why D is the right answer and better than A (what I initially picked), but I want to confirm why my answer is wrong. Is A incorrect because the part of the paragraph discussing the speed of the first three versus last movement ("And although in the early nineteenth century the first three movements...) is not about the early music recordings at all? Was the answer entirely in the first half of the paragraph, so I should've immediately avoided anything not from the part about early music recordings?

[Amber Thomas]

Hi StayinAlive!

As explained by our passage, early music recordings seek to record works as they were originally performed at the time of their composition. The whole of paragraph three describes characteristics of these early music recordings. This would include a) a piano that was actually inaudible to audiences, and b) slower last movements of symphonies.

The reason Answer Choice A is wrong is because the early music recordings, in their effort to present the composition as they would have originally been performed, likely would have had slower last movements in order to better mirror the original performances (as opposed to failing to recognize this).

I hope this helps!