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musicianiship--when is it bad or good ?

i have been attending concerts for the last 50 years. very often, i find it it interesting to read a music critic's "opinion" of the performance i have attended. invariably, a performer is taken to task for a poor performance or is praised for an "excellent" one.

why is one performance better than another if it is a matter of opinion ?

for example, if a pianist distorts the tempo by playing too slow or too fast, or with too much stacatto, or in general, takes liberties with the score, why is that necessarily bad ?
mrtennis
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newbee
4,751 posts
 
Mr T, A challenge for you, time to put your money where your mouth is.

Pretend that you have just attended a performance of Mahler's 9th symphony. You also have a score. You have heard this symphony many times by many conductors.
You are a very knowlegable musicoligist who has a complete understanding of this music. You are a reviewer (which you are) so you have a good command of the English language.

Now with all of that I defy you to write a review which will be meaningful to the average concert goer who cannot read a score and can only understand the nature of the performance as it might compare to another conductors performance (probably the typical audience for reviewer commentary). Your review, in order to remain totally objective, a goal you see as admirable, must be devoid of any subjective adjectives.

Oh, in addition, in order to keep your reader awake thru your review you must keep it interesting as well.

Bet you can't do it!
ellery911
549 posts
 
11/03/06: MrTennis
in the interests of communication it might be advised to describe a performance, sound etc., and let the reader decide whether it is "bad" or "good".

wouldn't that be kind of like describing a color? What does blue look like? And after reading your description of "blue"...would I still like it?
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Mrtennis,
just give us dumbs a few examples of ur xperience above described s'il vous plait (x-cuse my friench)...
mrtennis OP
3,295 posts
 
if i am attending an orchestra concert. i would describe factually what i heard. the tempos were too fast or too slow. certain performers were not in tune. their instruments sounded sharp or flat. the musicians did not sound like an ensemble. some musicians were ahead or behind the beat. they played to loud or too soft. they ignored the composer's markings and thier performance did not coincide with the wishes of the composer.

the above would be a hypothetical description of could have been observed at a symphony orchestra concert.

if you will note, i did not indicate a value to the performance. i tried to factually describe what i heard.
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