On Shaky Ground – Time To Ban Vibrato In Brahms?

The early music movement changed the way we listened to msuci of the Baroque and earlier. “As audiences, we have already got used to the idea that the music of Monteverdi or Bach is normally played and sung with pure tone, without the use of steady vibrato, a minute fluctuation of pitch intended to make the sound more intense. With the aid of period orchestras we are gradually accustoming ourselves to the same sound for Haydn and Mozart — even, on occasion, for Beethoven. But surely here, on the threshold of the Romantic era, pure tone must be questionable.” Should we ban vibrato in Brahms and Schumann and…?