Karl Miller.

>I also find it interesting how so many people seem content with
>downloading MP3 files, where the fidelity is so low...

On another online forum there was just a game: six versions of the end
of the finale of Mahler's 2nd were put online as MP3-files and then the
participants were to indicate which they like the best, which the worst.
All recordings were "digital" in the first place.  My, somehow sobered
conclusion: if I hadn't know it's MP3s, I wouldn't have noticed.  And
Mahler 2 surely is something where one should notice.

>For me, I wonder if there is a widening gap between those who listen
>with their full attention and those who do not.

I'm not so sure whether that gap is widening.  But I am sure that only
very few listen with full attention.

>I guess my question, assuming there is a point to my rambling, is has
>the recording changed our valuation of music as a human expression?

Definitely yes!  Relatively few people actually make music nowadays,
most only listen.  Hence, the ability to express oneself has dimished
greatly, one is only able to perceive (more or less, anyways) the
expression of others.

Jan