Peter Wisse wrote:

>>I really hate Beethoven.  They should stop playing his music for another
>>25 years or so, maybe one could then make a reappraisal, and see which
>>is worthwhile to perform again.

And Karl Miller replied:

>As I may have mentioned before, on of my teachers suggested that if we were
>to stop practicing, studying, listening to, broadcasting, and performing
>the standard literature for just one year, how it might open us up to
>finding other music that would have meaning to us.  She went on to
>speculate that such a fasting from the standards might give us such a
>different perspective on the music after our fast was over.
>
>So much wonderful music out there, and so little time...

This is where I come in.  I don't favor any 25 year bans.  Maybe not
even 1 year suspensions of standard rep.  But really, without recordings,
I wouldn't hear 10% of the music that I find so stimulating and interesting.
I love Beethoven, but do we need all these all-Beethoven (or all-anybody)
concerts when there is so much other music that could replace one or two of
those pieces? Karl's last sentence says it all.

We can complain about recording companies all we want, but I don't know
what I'd do without them.  Where else can I hear Zemlinsky, Schreker,
Mennin, rarer Sibelius, Dvorak, whatever? I don't go as far as Mr. Wisse,
but I can see something of where he is coming from.

Roger Hecht