Walter Meyer wrote:

>Karl Miller wrote:
>
>>I am reminded of something one of my teachers once suggested.  Her idea was
>>to place a ban on the music of Beethoven for some unspecified time period.
>
>All of a sudden I'm reminded of the 12-year ban in the Third Reich on music
>by certain composers.

Good point.  But also consider what happened as a result.  I am not
suggesting it was a good thing, but many fine composers ended up moving
to the US.  I also believe that what many view as the extremism of the
non-tonal composers might not have been given so much press.  Would we
have ever had those sessions at Darmstadt?

>While I can understand, if not agree, w/ those sentiments to the extent
>they apply to LvB's orchestral works, I would not accept them as regards
>his chamber and solo piano works.

How about performing the less familiar Beethoven for a few years?

Julia Werthimer wrote:

>That is partly what I was thinking of in my somewhat tongue-in-cheek post
>on the subject.  Orchestras get jaded when they play a piece too often; I
>am sure hearing students wrestling with the Eroica for the first time would
>be exciting.

I remember reading in one of the Oscar Levant books a story about a
rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic.  As the story goes there was a
guest conductor...perhaps Enesco...the orchestra was about to rehearse a
Beethoven Symphony.  The conductor said something like...you know this
piece better than I do...and he then went on to rehearse something else.
Levant mentioned, perhaps coloring his recollection to make a point, that
they gave a wonderful performance!

>[New list rule: none of this infantile Yanni bashing in the remainder
>of the 20th, or the whole of the 21st century.   There are other venues
>that welcome that sort of thing.  -Dave]

Well actually my point was not to bash Yanni...yes I have one or two of
his discs...my point was to suggest that others might want to add to the
list.

 [Fair enough.  I'm just trying to head off any slide into parochialism
 as so often happens when the subject comes up in oher venues.  -Dave]

Ian Crisp wrote:

>Let's keep this in perspective.  First, I never suggested a "ban"
>on anything.  It was Karl Miller's nameless teacher, enthusiastically
>supported by Julia Werthimer, who raised the idea of a total Beethoven
>boycott for an unspecified period.

The teacher was Dika Newlin, a pupil of Schnabel, Schoenberg, Lang, et al.

Steven Schwartz wrote:

>Karl Miller writes:
>
>>I am reminded of something one of my teachers once suggested.  Her idea was
>>to place a ban on the music of Beethoven for some unspecified time period.
>
>I'm ambivalent about this.  At one point, I would have agreed completely.
>On the other hand, I've just gotten into standard rep.  At my local
>symphony (which, incidentally, does enough new stuff to keep my interest),
>some of the most revelatory performances I've ever heard were of things I'd
>known forever:

Yes, but no doubt you understand what I assume was my teacher's point,
how much a revelation Beethoven's MUSIC might be if we avoided it for a
time.  Consider the situation where one is involved in a relationship.
Then consider the perspective one brings to one's perspective of that same
individual and the relationship after a period of separation.  It usually
not the same.  That is not to suggest it is better or worse, just likely
to be different.

I rarely listen to the standards.  Yet when I do return to them my
perspective varies.  Some works will sound as fresh as they did when I
first heard them, yet at other times, I wonder...why on earth did I ever
spend time listening to that!

Karl