The trouble with learning about music is that learning often gets in the way of just listening, as if "just" listening was in some way not enough.
It is striking how difficult it can be to deal with a single tone: Does Haydn actually think I am capable of responding to a single pitch? Can we players make our audience savor the power of every tone to transform the moment?
It took me a while, I admit it; but now my favorite music is that in which everything seems to be engendered by the opening note, no matter how ordinary.
