Public as in Publicity

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!!!!