John Smyth writes again concerning my Tabe/Debussy review:

>Ironically, your concern about "romantic distortion", whatever that is,....

John doesn't seem to know what "romantic distortion" is, and I haven't got
the slightest idea either.  It's his term; I never used it.  I could live
with the term "romantically indulgent".

>I also think Tabe over-pedals, but your connecting her indulgences with
>some sort of a larger "romantic agenda" makes me giggle.

Glad to spark a laugh from a fellow list-member.  Again, "romantic agenda"
is John's term, not mine.  But it's a little gratifying to hear than John
also considers Tabe to over-pedal.

>(And I know you don't particularly care for the romantic era...

How did a nasty rumor like that get started? I'd like to clear the air
about my feelings toward music of the romantic era.  First, I consider the
music of that era to be a natural aftermath of the classical era.  Second,
the only music from the romantic era that I do not care for is that which
goes into an histrionic mode without creating, in my view, any foundation
for the extreme route.  I often listen to romantic era composers including
Brahms, Faure, Franck, Dvorak, and some others.  That I don't care much for
the music of Tchaikovsky and Liszt does not mean that I am biased against
romantic era music anymore than not caring for Vivaldi's music makes me
anti-baroque.

Yes, I'm not one of the more romanticlly inclined individuals in the
world, and I never shed tears when listening to music(can't understand
where those tears come from).  But I appreciate lovely music as much as
the next person.  It's just that lovely performances can slight the other
elements of a work, and I feel that Tabe is in that category with her
Debussy disc.

Don Satz