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Re: composers playing their own concertos (was GG hagiography)

Hello all,

I couldn't agree more with what Jerbi wrote. An excellent explanation why certain works of art survive! If there's nothing "new" to discover in the text, then why bother. Gould's idea that any new recording should have something unique (and relevant!) to say about a work is another way of looking at this.

The idea that there's a one way and only one way of playing certain music is, I believe, one of the reasons why many of todays recordings sound so much alike.

This does not mean, at least I don't think so :-), that anything goes...

Regards,
Jorgen


jergggg wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Juozas Rimas" <JuozasRimas@TAKAS.LT>
To: <F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: composers playing their own concertos (was GG hagiography)


  
Are there examples when composers' own performances are worse than those
    
by
  
other performers?

I thought the composer's own interpretation (provided he is competent
    
enough
  
with an instrument!) is always perfect, even if he changes it drastically
    
in
  
every performance. He is the only one who knows exactly how the music
    
should
  
sound at that particular moment. Can anyone else know it better?



Juozas Rimas Jr (not the one playing)
http://www.mp3.com/juozasrimas (oboe, piano, strings)
    



No, no, no!  Know it better?  Music can only be an enduring Art if the
written score is held in higher esteem, above any one sole attempted
performance.   And therefore, a composer's rendition should never be given
any greater weight than that of any other inspired performer.

The Music's the Thing! and thereby, only time (and generations of
experience) will properly estimate.. certainly not the unwitting,
time-locked composer..

And this philosophy is reasonably applicable to any of the Arts, since
otherwise they would not retain their universal value(s), which we should
rightly expect, and continue to find enriching.

Relativism in the Arts only leads to impoverishment..

Jerbi