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In Praise of Infidelity

Famed pianist Byron Janis has written an insightful article on music performance and interpretation, published in the Wall Street Journal, 1/6/10:

In an interview last April, before his performance of Wagner's "Lohengrin" at London's Covent Garden, the noted opera and orchestral conductor Semyon Bychkov stated: "You start trying to be faithful to a composer's score but great masterpieces give you enormous possibilities for interpretation. You can serve the music without being subservient." The statement of St. Augustine could apply: "Love God and do what you will."

Mr. Bychkov was absolutely correct. Unfortunately, he was expressing a minority view. An oft-heard adage has it that the greatest artists are always faithful to and play only what is written in the score. A somewhat similar sentiment is expressed by the brilliant American musician and music historian
Gunther Schuller: "A conductor is the faithful guardian of the score—the score is a sacred document." However, the great Spanish cellist Pablo Casals disagreed: "The art of interpretation is not to play what is written." Our interpretation of what is written cannot, in fact, be written down.

Read the full article here.

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