In Reply to: HIP: It's a bad scene! (aka: I've just been reading Hogwood's biography of Handel) posted by Chris from Lafayette on January 11, 2017 at 18:33:01:
Chris, Thank you for taking time to articulate your point and educating me. Much appreciated.
I rarely put any stock into a journalist or reviewers point of view. They can't hold water like a conductor or virtuoso.
I still go back to the original thought in my mind: "do we really KNOW what Bach or Beethoven intended?" The answer is "probably not".
We do know what Shostakovich intended for his quartets, as evidenced by the Beethoven String Quartet upon whom he relied to debut his quartets. In this case, one could easily defer to the Beethoven Quartet performances as reference. From the Shosty quartet web site: "Shostakovich himself enjoyed the companionship of the Beethoven Quartet, the foremost ensemble in the Soviet Union, for whom he wrote all but his first quartet. In telling the story of his life, his quartets tell also of his relationship with these players, with their instruments, and with their repertory of the great classics."
In contrast, we have no such authority from Bach or anybody else prior to the 1900s.
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Follow Ups
- RE: HIP: It's a bad scene! (aka: I've just been reading Hogwood's biography of Handel) - banpuku 06:54:28 01/12/17 (8)
- Best to use your own ears. If there's anything worse than HIP Inc., it's the fake news surrounding it. Nt - jdaniel@jps.net 10:38:31 01/12/17 (6)
- That's true - but it's mostly from its proponents! [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 10:41:15 01/12/17 (5)
- But why the angst over what is simply an alternative fife-style? nt - jdaniel@jps.net 12:45:07 01/12/17 (4)
- Stop arguing with him, jdaniel, before things get viol-ent! nt - rbolaw 06:01:19 01/13/17 (2)
- I must say, I'm admiring the self-restraint of many of the usual suspects in this discussion [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 08:52:54 01/13/17 (1)
- Well, someone needs a Sac in the Butt [nt] ;-) - jdaniel@jps.net 10:08:09 01/13/17 (0)
- I reluctantly gave my opinion after being asked for it [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 18:30:56 01/12/17 (0)
- Moreover, some (not all) composers were pretty relaxed as far as. . . - Chris from Lafayette 10:28:48 01/12/17 (0)