It gets a bit tiresome to hear me bemoan the utter public-ness that music has become: All around us, ever the same volume and intensity, always correct in every detail. Horribly predictable. Why pay attention?
A perfectly good reason to pay attention: finesse. Somebody cares about something so deeply as to make it audible, time-stopping, unforgettable. Heinz Holliger playing the upward wafting thirds in a Bach Trio Sonata, heard by chance on the radio the other evening. (Ordinarily I switch the station when a Bach recording is announced, but I was specifically curious to hear how he would handle these written in ornaments with which I have become fascinated lately. And there they were!)
Then today I look up the announcements for a NYPhilharmonic concert I would have like to attend except that the announced conductor is apparently ill. But talk about public: There are the photos of the featured concerto soloist: Strapless, of course. Made up to the nines, bien sur. Playing the cello in the woods?!? Come on!!!!
