Paul Silverthorne responds to me:

>>The liner notes of the Brahms CD (on EMI), I think, mentioned that she
>>practiced so much during the recording sessions that by the end she was
>>bleeding at her neck.  Of course, this would affect your spontaneity.)
>
>Which, the bleeding or the practising?
>I imagine that you are proposing that too much practice would reduce
>spontaneity.

Well, yes, I am.

>If so I would beg to disagree.  As a performer myself I would say that
>on the contrary, true spontaneity in performance can only be achieved
>in conditions of complete technical security, hence the need for endless
>practice.

Spontaneity in performance usually only arises when the the performer
doesn't have to think about his technique, so yes, I do agree that the
more technically secure the performer is, the more room there is for
the player to be spontaneous.  And yes, given an "unlimited" amount of
time to practice-- and I'm talking months and years here-- a player's
performance should continuously improve.  However, what I'm talking about
is "overpracticing," or "overtraining," and this is a different issue, and
especially applicable when a person is practicing to the point of bleeding
on the day of the concert.  I don't know what instrument you play, but
speaking for violinists I can off the top of my head direct you to two
case studies: Fritz Kreisler, who claimed he never officially "practiced"
in his adult life, and Jan Kubelik, who was the opposite.  Kreisler was a
prodigy like Neveu-- they both even attended the Paris Conservatory, at
different times, and he may have finished as quickly as she did-- and when
questioned in adulthood on how often he practiced, he said,"24 hours a day.
25 years ago." As an adult he was the extreme case of the violinist who is
so technically secure that he rarely finds a need to practice, at least in
the traditional sense of regular practice of his repertoire.  He is known
as one of the most charming and original violinists ever, and he attributed
his originality to the fact that he didn't waste too much time practicing,
which he insisted "dulled the senses." Lucky man.  At the other end was Jan
Kubelik, a Czech violinist (and father of conductor Raphael, I think) from
the school of Svecik, who was dubbed "Paganini revividus(?)" because of
his dynamic virtuosity.  He was so meticulous about practicing that author
Boris Schwartz noted that Kubelik could play 16th-note runs that sounded
much faster than they really were, because he played them so evenly.
Kubelik did enjoy fame as a fabulous violinist, but not necessarily as an
interpreter/musician, and his international career was short-lived compared
to Kreisler's.  There's even a story about these two: Kreisler said that
he found Kubelik one day in a state of frenzy, because he had been
practicing so much that his fingertips had started bleeding, and he had
a concert that night.  Kreisler said that the fingers were tended to,
and that Kublik was able to perform in the evening.  Of the performance,
Kreisler said something like,"Of course he played wonderfully, but it was
a blank!" Kreisler and Kubelik are two extreme and historical cases, but
I think they serve well as models.  I'm not a professional violinist,
but what I hear that most people (violinists) do is practice a piece over
the course of a couple of years, and then on the day of the concert, they
try to take a nap, to get as much rest as possible.  Anyway, if you don't
believe me, I would suggest comparing her studio Brahms (I THINK it was
this piece) with her live performance.  I think you would agree that these
two performances are different.  hector aguilar p.s.- I'd like to add
something on the subject that I think might reinforce my point, but it's
non-musical.  Ten years ago I was watching a boxing match (Hearns/Leonard),
and in either the first or second round the commentator, who was also a
doctor, made the comment that one of the fighters might have overtrained,
because he wasn't sweating enough.  All this time I've wondered what aspect
of "overtraining" would have hindered this fighter.  After all, if the guy
wasn't sweating, then he should be in better shape and require less effort
to beat his opponent, right? Only now do I think that the implication might
have been that the overtrained athlete might have dulled reflexes, but this
is just a guess.  If this is true, however, then I think it reinforces my
comments on how overpracticing can inhibit spontaneity, and that this
concept is applicable to many physical endeavors.

-h