Henk van Tuijl ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>...  What do we say when we say that someone's playing is poetic? Do
>we only mean to say that it is so in our perception?

Largely, yes.

>Is there nothing "out there"? Doesn't the peformance of the artist matter
>at all?

Of course. If I attempted to play the music the first word to spring
to mind would be "incompetent".

>In other words, is the audience the "creator" of a poetical musical
>performance and not the musician?

No, the performer performs and the listener takes what (s)he can/wants to
from the performance.  What I hear as poetic you may not and vice-versa.

>And suppose that this were the case, should we not blame The Grammophone
>for hiring critics who are obviously uncreative - as in the case of
>Duchable?

The only problem I have is when a CD is assigned to a critic who obviously
doesn't even like the music and therefore, IMHO, has no right criticising
the performance.  Indeed, I consider it unethical and immoral.

Deryk Barker
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