Why does no one play the Banshee at a slow tempo?

[Austin]

It's clearly marked "slowly", but no one interprets it that way. I know there's a metronome marking, but it completely goes against the tempo and I have no evidence for this, but it seems to me that this is probably a thing done by publishers. It's clearly meant to be played slower than most interpretations in my eyes. I know that doesn't count for much as I'm a beginner in this world. However for musicality's sake it screams at me to be played adagio or maybe even lento around maybe 45 to 55 bpm. Maybe you could take the dance section around adagietto or 65 to 70 bpm as it's marked "not to be played quickly". The metronome mark completely contradicts this. Why is it like this? Why do metronome marks contradict clear markings?

[Austin]

Sorry let me amend, hardly anyone plays it this way.

[Joel Hooks]

We have discussed this before.  The standard interpretation in the US seems to be to slog through the intro at a snail’s pace and rubato.  Then blazing through the piece as fast as possible.

While one may play any piece however they like, I feel like this dreadfully slow intro to blazing fast main theme loses the effect that playing per the tempo markings gives.  While it does say “not to be played quickly”, the tempo markings is not exactly what I would call slow.  But the overall effect is much more creepy or unnerving when followed as published IMO.

But, again, people are free to interpret their own way.  That is the great thing about public domain music.  Since we all own it, we can do what we want with it.

Follow the tempo markings… or don’t.

[Jody Stecher]

We are also free to interpret copyrighted music in our own way. 

Joel Hooks said:

We have discussed this before.  The standard interpretation in the US seems to be to slog through the intro at a snail’s pace and rubato.  Then blazing through the piece as fast as possible.

While one may play any piece however they like, I feel like this dreadfully slow intro to blazing fast main theme loses the effect that playing per the tempo markings gives.  While it does say “not to be played quickly”, the tempo markings is not exactly what I would call slow.  But the overall effect is much more creepy or unnerving when followed as published IMO.

But, again, people are free to interpret their own way.  That is the great thing about public domain music.  Since we all own it, we can do what we want with it.

Follow the tempo markings… or don’t.

[Steve Harrison]

The tempo at which I play it depends on how my 76 year old arthritic fingers are on the day...Steve.

[Austin]

I agree. I'm just not sure how to interpret it because I'm still new.

Jody Stecher said:

We are also free to interpret copyrighted music in our own way. 

Joel Hooks said:

We have discussed this before.  The standard interpretation in the US seems to be to slog through the intro at a snail’s pace and rubato.  Then blazing through the piece as fast as possible.

While one may play any piece however they like, I feel like this dreadfully slow intro to blazing fast main theme loses the effect that playing per the tempo markings gives.  While it does say “not to be played quickly”, the tempo markings is not exactly what I would call slow.  But the overall effect is much more creepy or unnerving when followed as published IMO.

But, again, people are free to interpret their own way.  That is the great thing about public domain music.  Since we all own it, we can do what we want with it.

Follow the tempo markings… or don’t.