Klarinet Archive - Posting 000193.txt from 1996/04

From: Marie McDonough <mm46@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Re Jonathan Cohler on "Interpretation"
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1996 15:41:57 -0400

> How players can enter into performances of a work from a
> particular era without an understanding of what was
> expected of a performer of that
> time is always something that amazes me. It is such
> colossel ego to presume that one needs to know only the
> notes of a composition in order to perform it, that
> whenever I hear remarks (or performances) of that
> nature, my respect for that individual decreases in a
> quantity equal to the demonstration of ignorance.

Dan--

Though this may not be universal, it has been my experience that performers who
feel little or no need to understand the era in which the music they perform was
composed have an equal lack of interest in much of the contemporary world around
them. The ahistorical mind is nothing if not consistent.

Marie

Marie McDonough
mm46@-----.edu