Janos Gereben <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >From Terry Teachout's Saturday Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column: > >Is it possible for a critic to know too much? Not a chance. >The unhappy truth is that it's far more common for us not to >know nearly enough about the art forms we review. (If you doubt >it, ask any artist.) But I've also discovered that the accumulation >of knowledge can inhibit our ability to appreciate an artistic >experience. I am reminded of something a friend of mine said on one of his radio broadcasts. He was about to air a recording of the Rubbra 7th Symphony, a work he knew and loved. He said, "I envy all of you who are about to hear this work for the first time." Indeed, the opening of that work still seems to me to be as beautiful as the first time I heard it, but never was it so wonderful as the first time. One of my teachers suggested a several year moratorium on performances of the standard literature as a means to develop a great appreciation for the "great" works, and to force us to look for overlooked "great" works. Then I think...you have not ever truly heard a Brahms Symphony until you have listened to a Furtwangler recording...or the violence and sensuality of the last movement of La Mer without ever having heard the Koussevitzky New York Phil broadcast from the 1940s...or Janet Baker doing the Ruckert Lieder...or...the Munch's broadcast of the Saint Saens Third from the 60s or... There are times that I think music might be better served by not having programs at concerts so one could listen without as many expectations...and that reviewers would be sent recordings without performers being named. I wonder about how we might listen differently without such information. Karl *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html