Steve Schwartz wrote:

>Unless, of course, the composer made a mistake or miscalculated.  But
>apparently the composer can never be wrong.  Sweet racket.

Unfortunately, all we have to go on is what the composer wrote.  With
the exception of living composers to whom we can write or telephone, the
written indications are the only guide we have.  So, Steve, at least from
this performer's point of view, no, the composer is never wrong.  To change
what is written is to tread someplace where we have no right to tread.

To take it a little further, if you start eliminating repeats willy-nilly,
doesn't that logically lead to changing dynamic markings that don't suit
us? If we don't like a particular modulation in a Beethoven sonata, may we
change the harmony? Heck, why not change the order of the movements? Surely
Beethoven must have been mistaken putting the scherzo before the slow
movement in the ninth symphony!

Dave Runnion
www.serafinotrio.com