Tomasz Biernacki wrote:

>I have browsed through this topic also (65 messages), and I was stunned.
>Only a few people mentioned what I feel is very important.
>
>A level of professional education is much higher now than 50 or even 20
>years ago.

I dont think the level of education is any higher- there are just MORE
graduates from music schools to choose from- so therefore the orchestras
do not have to make any compromises as to the quality of those who audition
and are accepted for positions- tomorrow I visit my friend who is in the
first violin section of the NY Philharmonic- he is on the audition
committee for string players- he tells me that the violinists now have
to be able to play pieces like the Sibelius violin concerto!!!!-

>You cannot count how many orchestras are able to play "perfect"
>i.e.  in tune and in time.

yes, that is true- I am a bassoonist and not too long ago, you would hear
bassoons on recordings that did not play perfectly in tune- no more- they
all do- not with equal musicality but the DO play in tune-

>If they all get the same instruments - how would you know the difference?

oboes and bassoons sound different also depending on the types of reeds
they play on, vibrato, etc.-

>This leads me to a conclusion that such a list is very difficult if
>possible to make.  Perfection is impossible, and even if it was, nobody
>knows what it is.

perfection is not important- besides- it is very rare that a performance
goes by without some slips- with digital recordings, splicing is easy -

>Another "anecdote".  Krystian Zimerman says he has no technical problems.
>This is true.  Look what he has recorded.  He says that he plays only the
>pieces he knows HOW to play.

his playing is NOT interesting- rather hear the equivalent of a not top 10
orchestra type pianist- his recent Chopin concertos are not convincing nor
imaginative so far as I am concerned

AB