Please replace "composer' with DIRECTOR. Directors listen to the albums, get used to the faster tempos, and expect us music directors to keep up with them. I was once badgered by a director with the word "leaden" when I went with the tempos marked in the music (and/or what I felt was reasonable to get the lyrics out etc) primarily because he was used to what he heard on the CD.
So yes, like it or not, the recorded tempi do become the expected standard.
Michal Starobin addressed this once. He cited the tempo of "Four Jews In A Room Bitching" on the original 1981 recording of March Of The Falsettos and said that yes, it's faster than they did it in the theatre, and that most likely pianists have been breaking their fingers (or he may have said wrists) over the song since. ;-) |
