On Apr 3, 2007, at 1:13 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Doug Henwood wrote:
>>
>> On Apr 3, 2007, at 5:52 AM, Colin Brace quoted:
>>
>>> http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/story/0,,2048916,00.html
>>>
>>> Vanishing acts
>>> Martin Kettle
>>>
>>
>>> What went wrong was partly the glut: with 435 versions available,
>>> who
>>> needs number 436?
>>
>> More than partly.
>
> This is just a special case of a general glut of the very great4st
> works
> in every art form. Rising population and rising literacy equals way
> too
> much not just good but great stuff for everyone to even begin to take
> in.
Yup. I've been listening to Kubelik's recordings of Mahler's syms, the Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Bach cantatas, the Juilliard's Beethoven quartets, Arrau's Beethoven sonatas - all of them decades old, and splendid. As long as they stay in print (and something like Arkiv could keep things in print forever), why bemoan the dearth of newer versions? There's more great stuff than I could ever listen to.
And then there's Hillis Miller's question (also decades old) - with so much Shakespeare to read, who needs Beaumont & Fletcher?
Doug