Nick Perovich replies to me:

>There may be people who chase the dream of "a performance of absolute
>perfection," but I would have thought the passage quoted would have made
>it clear that that is not what I see myself as being up to.  Rather, there
>is a body of works (roughtly, the "Austro-German lassics") that (a) appeals
>to me, and (b) stands up to a multitude of approaches, revealing something
>a bit different from each angle.  The point is not that I'm looking for the
>one perfect performance of Beethoven's ninth, but that part of what I like
>about Beethoven's ninth is that it says different, and compellingly
>different, things in different hands.

There is such a vast body of work out there to be listened to that to
even make a dent in it requires a lifetime devotion.

However I would be the first to admit that performances do vary and some
are better that others (using the judgement method of majority vote).  But,
there is another phenomenon that I have noticed:  One hears a new version
of a work that one is familiar with and one does not like it.  However with
repeated playing and familiarisation the performance grows in favour and
may even become the prefered version.

But how often can one stand to listen to a particular work? Currently I
rate my favourite work as Brahm's first symphony.  I've heard 4 versions
of this, own two and prefer Jochum on EMI.  Recently though I've noticed
decreasing enjoyment with successive playings.  I've just heard it to much.
So a new version would not get a fair hearing and familiarisation is
starting to breed contempt.

That's me of course and others may be different.  But this situation leads
to my argument that there comes a time when one should call a halt and
explore partures new.

I personally get far more enjoyment from discovering an amazing unknown
work than I do from finding a better version of a known work.

The clock is ticking we only have so much time.

Bob Draper
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