Donald Satz <[log in to unmask]> replies to me:

>Jocelyn Wang wrote:
>
>>The practice of completely ignoring a composer's specific instructions is
>>indeed whimsical -- at best.
>
>To me, "ignoring" indicates that the performing artist did not consider the
>instructions or try to determine whether he/she would ultimately observe
>those instructions.  The fact remains that the artist may well have placed
>significant weight on the instructions and still decided not to observe
>them.  A listener may like or not like what's being done, but to describe
>every non-observance of the written score as as act of "ignoring" the
>instructions is simply inaccurate without knowing the process used by
>the artist which resulted in the non-observance.

Whatever the process, and whether one calls it "ignoring" the repeats or
"disregarding" them, the result is the same: the composer's intent is
being undermined by someone who does not and cannot know the piece as
intimately as the composer.

Bob Draper <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>When all the marked repeats are performed in Haydn, as they are being
>done in Hogwood's series, then part of the impact of the work is lost
>in my view.

The mere fact that Haydn put those repeats in shows that the composer
himself disagrees with you.  His judgement is to be given a higher value
than yours, or anyone else's.

-Jocelyn Wang
Culver Chamber Music Series
Come see our web page: www.bigfoot.com/~CulverMusic