Klarinet Archive - Posting 001273.txt from 2000/12

From: Jennifer Jones <JJONES@-----.EDU>
Subj: [kl] technique & musical interpretation
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 00:15:08 -0500

I was reading through one of my Chrstmas presents (a book of M. C. Escher's
prints, annotated with excerpts from letters and lectures he gave.) and ran
into this. It seemed particularly pertinent to the recent debate about
technique and musical interpretation.

"If someone has expressed himself in graphics from his youth; if he has created
visual images for many years, always using such graphic means as woodblocks,
copper plates and lithographic stones, as well as press, ink and all sorts of
paper for printing on, this technique finally becomes second nature to him.
Obviously, the technique itself must have been the most important thing for
him, at least at the beginning of his career as a graphic artist, or he could
not have taken that direction. In addition, he must continue to use the
specific medium he has chosen with unflagging enthusiasm throughout the years,
and he will undoubtably strive all his life for a technical expertise that he
will never completely acquire.

"Meanwhile, all this technique is merely a means, not an end in itself. The
end he strives for is something other than a perfectly executed print. His aim
is to depict dreams, ideas or problems in such a way that other people can
observe and consider them. The illusion that an artist wishes to create is
much more subjective and far more important then the objective, physical means
with which he tries to create it."
-M.C. Escher lecture Stedelijk Museum, 16 November 1953.

I'm not sure how I would cite this excerpt, but the title of the book is _The
Magic of M. C. Escher_ and the person who put it together is Erik The (with an
accent over the e).

-Jennifer Jones

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