Klarinet Archive - Posting 000744.txt from 2004/10

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] A confession regarding K622
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 11:52:37 -0400

At 04:12 PM 10/25/2004 +0100, Tony Pay wrote:
>No -- they're arguing that what is important about Mozart is eradicated by
>coarsely obliterating it with another style.
>
>'Mozart', after all, is not just the notes of the tunes he wrote.

I never said otherwise, but does this give us a right to declare all
interpretations that don't meet this criteria sacrilegious? Ban them?
Insult people who like them or use them?

If you do so, you become part of the taste police. You have spent too much
of your career fighting against the taste police (and proving them wrong)
to join them now.

> > Are jazz versions acceptable but rap versions not? What about calypso
> > versions? Country? Disco? Salsa? Where exactly would you suggest we draw
> > the line?
>
>Stravinsky did something different when he recomposed Pergolesi in
>'Pulcinella'. The difference is that he knew what he was doing, being a
>great composer himself. He characterised what he did as 'an act of love'.
>
>Most of these other guys are just opportunists.

Yeah, so what? That doesn't answer my question. Where do we draw the line?
I submit we can not and should not draw the line. Besides, Stravinsky would
not have gotten very far in the world without opportunists. Not bad or
good, just the way the world works.

If you want to settle this by declaring me an opportunist and you an
artist, I'm happy with that. We can't all be great artists.

-Adam

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