Re: The Listener as Artist

[Duncan Basson <dsbasson@students.wisc.edu>]

I'd also like to agree with Allan's rather insightful statement, and add
this further.  Unlike many members of this list, I'm pretty young (21) and
I've spent my life in Midwest America.  If it hadn't been for my father's
diligence in cultivating my taste for music, I would have ended up
believing that Pearl Jam and Mariah Carey represented the peak of musical
expression, just as the rest of my generation believes.  For 18 years, I
was an active and happy participant in the dreck which Americans fondly
term music; a scant three years later, the prospect of living without an
intimate knowledge of the Shostakovich string quartets, for instance, seems
to me to be a fate worse than death.

I mention all of this because I read a lot of postings, both here and
elsewhere, from music fans criticizing this or that recording or
composition as "unorthodox", or poorly performed, or poorly interpreted,
etc.  While criticism of this type is certainly valid and even correct,
after a point I believe it detracts from true enjoyment of the music.  I
confounds me to see people dwell on various flaws in composition and
performance.  Above all, music is a joyous experience, and I believe that
no matter how many mistakes might exist within the music, the overall
output is far, far more brilliant than it is flawed.  

Now, granted, I'm all for striving for perfection and I strongly believe
that the repetoire must be both replayed and revised often as well as
expanded; but when I look around my environment, I get an acute picture of
just how rare and extraordinary a treasure this music is, and it seems
almost criminal to focus one's attention on finding fault with it.

Duncan