Re: synesthesia

[WKCaine@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/10/99 10:11:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jphill@home.com writes:

<< Bach, unfortunately, is no longer available.  And we can't be completely 
sure how
 he would have played these works.  But even if we *did* know Bach's feelings
 about this, would his interpretation be the only "correct" one?
  >>

     TS Eliot wrote the following on the back of the record jacket for his 
recording of his own "Four Quartets":

     "A recording of a poem read by its author is no more definitive an 
'interpretation' than a recording of a symphony conducted by the composer.  
The poem, if it is of any depth and complexity, will have meanings in it 
concealed from the author; and should be capable of being read in many ways, 
and with a variety of emotional emphases.
     "A good poem, indeed, is one which even the most accomplished reading 
cannot exhaust.
     "What the recording of a poem by its author can and should preserve, is 
the way that poem sounded to the author when he had finished it.  The 
disposition of lines on the page, and the punctuation (which includes the abse
nce of punctuation marks, when they are omitted where the reader would expect 
them) can never give an exact notation of the author's metric.  The chief 
value of the author's record, then, is as a guide to the rhythms.
     "Another reader, reciting the poem, need not feel bound to reproduce 
these rhythms: but, if he has studied the author's version, he can assure 
himself that he is departing from it deliberately, and not from ignorance."  
[Italics in original.]

Jacket Notes for "T.S. Eliot reads his Four Quartets," Angel Records No. 
45012.  

    WKC (new to the board and very much enjoying it)