John Dalmas wrote:

>Now, I have ordered Aaron Rabushka's Concerto for Clarinets and Chamber
>Orchestra which I have never heard.  When I get around to that one hearing
>it deserves, am I going to "know" it the same as I know the Brahms Fourth?
>The first time I heard Brahms' Fourth I hated it because it didn't sound
>anywhere near as good as Brahms' First.  It was 25 years before I began to
>see the Fourth was the more genuinely creative work, and the symphony's
>final passacaglia possibly the finest thing Brahms had written.  The point
>is how many times will I get to listen to the Rabushka, and do I have
>another 25 years?

No, but perhaps someone else will, and will distill that lifetime of
listening into a performance.  This is they key part, while listening and
knowing a work intimately is good, creating a performance or work of art
which transmit that understanding to others is infinitely better.

Stirling S Newberry [log in to unmask]
For whom 100 listenings to Brahms 4 would be a low estimate.