But, a lousy performance of a great piece of music is not only dismal, but can effectively hide the content and beauty of the work. History has countless instances of works being initially relegated to the trash heap due to poor performances at the premier only to be resurrected later and become recognized for the masterful works they are.
I can imagine reproductions so bad that the point of an impressionistic painting is lost. I hated my art history books that had only black-and-white reproductions of works in which color was one of the main expressive elements. All that went lost... Sometimes it's really hard to see through the bad reproduction or listen past the bad performance; it's like not being able to understand the text in a play or reading a novel in a language you only have a very rudimentary knowledge of. You only understand what you can perceive.
Best,
Doremus
Bookmarks