Posted by Rick Denney on March 02, 2001 at 11:04:17:
In Reply to: Re: A Modest Request... posted by How about... on March 01, 2001 at 19:33:56:
The pendulum swings back and forth. It's the player, no it's the horn, no it's the player.
It's both.
Face it, folks, we make music using an apparatus, and the quality of that apparatus affects the music we make. The more effort we must devote to overcoming the limitations of the apparatus, the less effort we can devote to the music. When I hear stunningly good musicians on a horn with known limitations, I think that either they don't feel those limitations because of something weird about them, or that they are overcoming those limitations. It makes me wonder how good they could be if they didn't have to work that hard.
A great horn is a pile of brass in the hands of a bad player. But a good player can be holding himself back with an unworthy horn. This explains why tenured orchestra players still improve their equipment, even at high cost, when it gives them something they didn't have before.
I had dinner with Gene and several others once when he was in Austin performing with the Summit Brass many years ago. I found him to be funny, engaging, and generous. He'd probably do it for the laughs if it could be arranged in a way that it isn't a drag.
My violin-making acquaintance took some very high-quality medium-format pictures of several Stradivarius violins. His pictures were beautiful in their own right, and also illustrate much about the character of those instruments and their maker. We should do this now before some disaster befalls these instruments. The approach taken by these old Yorks may not always be in favor, but these two instruments will always be famous. Why should we have to wonder that the instrument Jacobs is holding in the cover photo of Song and Wind is the same as the instrument in Donatelli's photo contained within, as has been discussed here many times, with no concrete answer?
By the way, contact is being made, and we'll see how it turns out.
Rick "who appreciates the aesthetics of great instruments as well as their musical qualities" Denney