Re: [Harp-L] virtuoso

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Oct 20, 2004, at 3:45 PM, Steve Shaw wrote:
> There was a guy in the 1930s called Artur Schnabel who recorded all 
> Beethoven's piano sonatas on scratchy old sides of 78s.  His playing 
> had so many fluffs and wrong notes in it that you could sit there and 
> groan at times when listening to it....but, today, in spite of all the 
> modern young bucks who can play the same stuff fast and faultlessly, 
> he is revered by many (including a lot of the best modern-day players) 
> as the greatest ever interpreter of Beethoven's piano music.
>
> Was he a virtuoso?  I neither know nor care!
>
> Steve

 I feel the same way when guys go on and on about various dead guys 
(who weren't all THAT good). I mean, they were good, but certainly not 
up to "Deity" status. It's like comparing swimmers from the 1954 and 
2004 olympics. This dog won't hunt.

smo-joe