robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (06/01/84)
References: Bob Fishell may have had good reason to compare Berg's violin concerto to breaking lightbulbs -- did he hear a good performance of it? The Berg concerto provides a good case study in recordings of how performances of a work can improve. There are atrocious recordings (particularly older ones) in which the violin soloist gets a few beats separated from the orchestra, and in which melodic lines or rhythms that move among instruments just get butchered. A bad perofrmance sounds very "modern" -- very jangly, very atonal, very strangely rhythmic. A good performance (of Wozzeck or Lulu too) sounds lusciously Romantic. - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison