Many list members have posted about the greater rewards of live performances vs. recordings, including the "communication" between artist and audience members. Not sharing this view, I found the following words from Maria Joao Pires in the January Gramophone rather interesting: "Recording is really the only thing I like to do for the public. I don't like to play on stage - I have never liked that. I don't feel comfortable. On stage there are too many distractions. You feel you have to prove yourself, to deserve your audience. So you are tougher with yourself, rather than being able to love yourself, the music, your audience. When I record, I feel much greater love towards the music and towards people! I can do something which they can really share with me in their homes." Although the above might lead one to think of Pires as some kind of recluse, she has taken her 450 acre farm and built an experimental and inter-disciplinary arts centre which also serves for concert performances and recording venues. Don Satz