Frank Fogliati recently and clearly provided his reasons for preferring
Historically Informed Performances.  I'd like to add my two cents worth
and take the issue toward a somewhat different area.

It seems to me that extremists on both sides of the issue own their own
personal preferences, build up "objective" reasons to exclusively support
their preferences, and then issue a series of "shoulds" concerning what
other performers and listeners need to do.  I find that consideration for
the listening preferences of others hardly exists at all from these
sources.

However, there is a element of a democratic society which "balances" all
these preferences and insures that all of us can listen to what we want in
the style we prefer - the Marketplace.  Record companies care not about
pro-hip or anti-hip; their concern is money-making.  I am very glad that
those who do not like HIP performance practices have other performance
practices available to them; this insures that I have what I want available
as well.  In this manner, we can all be satisfied.  Yet, the extremists are
hardly satisfied, because they want "control".  I am getting tired of these
inconsiderate folks who try to tell others the "right" path to take - their
way or the highway.  This even holds for something as trivial as reviews of
recordings.  I often read letters in magazines critical of the reviewer for
not including particular recordings in the review; this also comes up now
and then concerning reivews I post to the list.  Intolerant folks are all
around us; watch out for them, because they aim to control you.  Anyone for
paranoia?

There is one aspect that I feel strongly about in the debate about
"instrumentation".  Anti-period instrument individuals often trot out the
argument that Bach would have used 20/21st century instruments if they had
been at his disposal.  First, that argument can not possibly be proven;
Bach is not here to address the issue.  Second, I think it is reasonable
to assume that had modern instruments been available to Bach, he would not
have written the same exact music; I'd bet my life on it.  So, there is not
a perfect match between Bach's music and use of modern instruments.  I love
Bach keyboard works on the modern piano, but I don't fool myself into
believing that Bach would have written the same way if he had the modern
piano.

In conclusion, whether it's HIP or modern, the ultimate test is the
enjoyment derived by the listener, and enjoyment is about as subjective
an element as one can find.  Let's stop pontificating about so-called
objective views and simply zero in on our enjoyment levels.

Don Satz
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