First off, hello to all.  I've been lurking a while and have finally
decided to jump in.  If I prove to be a nuisance, blame Steve Schwartz
for steering me here.

I was yet another of the listers at the Festival Hall Elgar concert May 27.
I had much the same reaction as the others -- Hickox's reading of the 2nd
Symphony was outstanding, but the Cello Concerto, while undeniably well
played, was somehow not compelling (Truls Mork was the soloist, by the
way).  I had a rather peculiar reaction to it, in fact.  About halfway
through the 1st movement I disconnected from following the music and found
myself focusing on the soloist's use of vibrato.  It's easy to do with a
cellist, with his left hand shaking right at the audience.  In much the
same way as a word repeated without context can start to sound like
gibberish, the soloist's continuous use of vibrato seemed more and more
like a pointless, amusical tic.  I'd estimate that fully 85% of the notes
were wobbled throughout or at the note's end, and as the performance wore
on I found myself wishing somebody would nail his wrist to the fingerboard.

Yes, I know such use of vibrato is standard performance practice for
most classical and romantic music, but I found myself wondering why it is
considered appropriate and desirable.  You would throw out a tape recorder
that fluttered like that; why tolerate, even welcome, the same sonic
treatment when applied by a violinist or celllist or guitarist? Would you
enjoy listening to a piano that wobbled every note? I wouldn't; it would
drive me nuts!  I looked up "vibrato" in Grove, but it wasn't very
informative, other than to assert that it adds "colouring" to the sound,
and that Fritz Kreisler is largely responsible for the prevailing fashion
in vibrato among string players.  If the idea is to add color to the sound
of a vibrating string, fine; but when applied always at the same shake rate
(ca.  4 cycles/sec, for Mork at least) to virtually every note I find it
results in monotony, not variety.  Anyway, I would be fascinated to hear a
vibrato-free performance of the Elgar (or whatever); or at least one where
it was used very sparingly, as punctuation to key phrase endings.

Anyhow, what about it? Am I out to lunch obsessing about this, or have
some of you wished for an occationaly moratorium on the shakes? I may well
be hypersensitive.  I do know that if you have me trapped in the den of the
Secret Six and are in a hurry to get me to divulge the Secret Plans, all
you'd have to do is play a record of Marian Anderson singing spirituals
and I'd spill my guts instanter.  Whatever the merits of the music and
performance, I couldn't hear them past the wobble!

Art Scott
Livermore, Cal.