Denis Fodor wrote:

>The way I see it, what we're talking about here is not recording but
>performing.  A fresco by Caravaggio --and that's not what he was really
>known for-- was painted and troweled and then got to be recorded on, say,
>film.  ...  Monteverdi's works were composed in notation for performance
>by musicians.  They're still being recorded on cd's.  It may be admissible
>to hold that recording can also take the form of descriptive reporting and
>criticism.
>
>Norman Lebrecht had it right--without engaging in any sophistry.

Thank you, Denis.

Let's not get behind barricades.  I have nothing against recordings, but
there is a clear artistic distinction between canned music and live.

To compare them to theatre and movies is nonsense.  A movie operates
in several dimensions denied to theatrical performance.  It can leap
instantaneously from scene to scene, magnify details in close-up and
add music or titles to enhance mood.  A recording, especially of a
classical work, is merely a simulacrum of a real (public) or faked
(studio) performance.  One can gain a great deal of knowledge and pleasure
from such objects but one should not confuse them with the real thing.

Steve Schwartz's reminiscences of Szell in concert and in studio were
interesting and edifying.  However, I do not think I have ever met a
musician who believed that his or her studio work was more important than
live performances.  Karajan, perhaps, in his final decade became so
focussed on his legacy that the studio transcended all else, but in his
prime Karajan regarded concerts as paramount.

I am also sensitive to the fact that people who do not live within reach of
a concert hall need recordings to satisfy their musical cravings.  There
is, of course, usually the alternative of live broadcasts.

Finally, several Listers have mentioned the advantages of recording in
eliminating imperfections from a performance.  Allow me to quote Klemperer
again.  On a visit to Abbey Road, OK found a producer wih loops of tape
around his neck (these were pre-digital days) editing the previous day's
recording of a Mozart horn concerto.  'What is he doing?' said OK.  'He's
replacing the false note that the soloist blew, 12 bars into the second
movement.' came the reply.  Klemperer turned to his daughter.  'Lotte,' he
barked 'ein Schwindel!' (a fraud).

"Norman Lebrecht" <[log in to unmask]>