William Copper wrote:

>>It is the MUSIC, not the performance, that brings fascination and
>>discovery.  If you go the next step, and begin looking at the scores of
>>masterpieces as you listen, there will be enough excitement for the rest
>>of your life in your present collection.  Not to stop buying music, but
>>...

And Krzysztof Lorentz replied:

>Re-opening an old discussion...  William's opinion seems typical for
>composers.  Mine is quite opposite - I like Clara Haskil performing
>anything - more than Bach played by an average artist.

I agree with both to a certain extent.  My two cents: A good work
can sound bad from a poor performance, or even one by a performer who
interprets inadequately through not fully grokking in the composer's idiom.
For the latter, e.g.  trying to play Chopin too squarely (not that it never
should be played squarely), or Bach with too much (or just the wrong kind!)
of rubato, or not sufficiently bringing out a melody that is embedded in a
whirlwind of sixteenths or heavy chords.  (Oddly, this last is a crime I
hear most often committed by modern performers.)

Michael Cooper