Joel Lazar wrote: >Tradition, whether Viennese, American vernacular or French has its uses >but it is no substitute for skill and insight. Couldn't agree more! Unfortunately, it's much easier for most people to check on whether a performer appears to belong to "the tradition" or not than to appraise said performer's skill and insight, so tradition tends to be given much more weight than it deserves in the general run of music criticism, and excellent performers with the wrong name or nationality are too often slighted. Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]