Leslie Kinton writes:

>I used to be a fanatic about always doing all repeats as being the only
>historically accurate way of doing things...  'till I heard no less than
>Malcolm Bilson point out that Mozart himself was quite cavalier about the
>whole matter, and left them in, or took them out according to how the piece
>would fit the rest of the programme.

My impression is that punctilious observance of the score is relatively
recent, perhaps the most notable line of development of it tracing back to
Prussian Kapellmeisters of about a century ago.  But even Prussian-trained
conductors, such as Sergiu Celibidache, sometimes dropped repeats
(specifics don't come to mind for the moment).  I never thought to ask him
about it, but my hunch is that his reasons for doing so were more or less
those of Mozart, effecting a program fit.

Moreover, the sanctity of the score as an organic whole is habitually
ignored in classical radio programs, one of my favorite ways of listening
to recordings.  They mostly consist of excerpts of works.  I've never felt
guilty for listening, or for enjoying them.  The pleasure of listening to
a whole work, live, is something else, though, and decidedly superior.  But
here, again, there's the problem of fit, that is to say finding the time
required to attend a live performance.

Denis Fodor                     Internet:[log in to unmask]