People often forget how powerful matters of taste, and allegiance to taste
are.  I know people who will not eat at certain restaurants, who take great
pride in the particulars of their diet or the colour schemes in their homes
- or the brand of their cigarettes.  In a world where increasingly few
ideas seem worthy of devotion adn beleif, people are placing great emphasis
on their allegiance to particular tastes.

I strongly believe in the virtues of what is now called Historically
Informed Performance - not the least of which is I find few current
musicians have the sympathy with the older styles of performance to make
their efforts have the authenticity which any performance style requires.
A performer who makes a statement in HIP is asking to be judged as a
performer in general, and against certain ideas of music performance.  The
player in the post romantic tradition which dominated this century through
the 1970's at least is drawing comparisons to different performances.

As with any new style a certain amount of snobbery is essential - there
have been dismissals of HIP from very public places and in terms which can
only be called nothing short of personal invective - and there have been
defenses of similar anger and hot bloodedness.  THis is all to be expected,
but it doesn't, in the end have much to do with the ideas, merely the
jostling and pecatcle which inevitably attend the acceptance of any ideas
which are right, and which are different from already accepted ideas which
are also right - but of the neither hold complete claim to truth.

In particular I would like to draw people's attention to the various
chestnuts which were floated to justify the older performance practices.
For example the statement "since Beethoven was always pushing the bounds
of his instruments he would have wanted his music played on modern rather
than inferior period instruments." Now this flies in the face of evidence -
Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagenr - to say nothing of Johannes Brahms - had
queasy feelings about some of the results of modernisation or horns and
winds - they all agreed that the increased ease of playing was important,
but that the loss of open tones and character was a price that should not
always be paid.  Wagner prefaced his Tristan unde Isolde warning the horn
players to play the notes which would be open tones on the older horn *as
open tones*.

In truth practioners of the older style knew what they were doing had lost
a certain connection to the past, and there was a need to rationalise it.
THe performances stand or fall on their mertis, but the rationalistations
stand or fall on their tenability - a very different thing.  A few people
have died for music, but many more have been willing to kill, litearlly and
figuratively, to preserve thher rationlisations.

My advice to anyone is to learn to appreciate the difference between the
full bodied romantic and the acidic authentic styles the same way a wine
conisseur would realise that no matter how wonderful a thing Chardonnay is,
it does not suit every taste, dish or occasion.

Stirling S Newberry
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