Tony Duggan wrote:

>...There also comes a point at which you have to call a halt to the number
>of recordings included because, afterlistening to between fifteen and
>twenty recordings of the same work in succession over about two weeks,
>the critical faculties can start to get blunted....

Yes, I was wondering about that.  I know when I listen closely to a piece
in order to analyze what I like/dislike about it, my mental set shifts from
the aesthetical to the mechanical.  I exit the domain of the muse and enter
that of the engineer.  A couple of hours of a live performance usually do
me fine.  That's about my limit for aesthetical enthralment; beyond it lies
mechanical calculation.  Five hours of Wagner are made up of two hours of
enjoyment and three of ideology.

Denis Fodor                     Internet:[log in to unmask]