Johan van Veen wrote:

>Isn't it funny that HIP opponents who always tell us how little we know
>about the wishes and intentions of composers of the past, seem to know for
>sure that they would have loved our instruments, had they known them? Isn't
>that called 'projection' in psychology?

It's just as funny as presuming to know how music a couple of centuries
old sounded to its contemporary audience.  Ultimately, neither position
matters aesthetically.  What matters is the music that results.  I've
heard wonderful Bach played on the harmonica (Larry Adler), the grand piano
(Rosalyn Tureck, Andras Schiff, Reine Gianoli), the harpsichord (Landowska,
van Asperen, Hewitt, Leonhardt, etc), the Moog synthesizer (Carlos), and on
museum copies (Pinnock, Gardiner, Koopman, Harnoncourt, etc).

I like certain HIPsters, but I do think it a shame that fewer modern players
take up this music any more.  The music is bigger than any one approach.

Steve Schwartz