Some Listmembers may recall my enthusiasm for music performed live.  It's
my preferred musical experience given what I see as an enhanced openness
by the listener as witness, and not so much due to any flaws in our
devices for recording music or reproducing it.  Others differ, given
their lower tolerance for coughing and rustling wrappers, and maybe for
other valid reasons that I don't share.

In an article about Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov, a reviewer talks
about him playing "...with great sensitivity...  the other night.  It
was, like all concerts likely to stay in the mind forever, nothing that
could ever be captured digitally."
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/arts/music/17grig.html)

Sokolov apparently gave up on recording in 1995, and as a result is
all but unknown outside of Europe.  Fine so far, despite the apparent
loss to the rest of us, but in case I'd misunderstood his gist that first
time, reviewer Michael Kimmelman repeats his reservations about recordings:
he cites our "...delusions about technology.  The Web, on which he can
be found on YouTube, giving astonishing performances, clearly doesn't
substitute for hearing him live."

No question, again, that one's experience of a performance isn't amenable
to being recorded, and that a recording won't substitute for an outstanding
evening of music.  Still, to me the performances themselves are certainly
amenable to being recorded faithfully, including all their interpretive
subtleties and nuances.

Your views?

Bert Bailey

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