P.S. I don’t really know how much the students in your bend the price out of shape, so I am not completely sure how much adherence to the markings on the score you are specifying.

The quote I excerpted from your post is:

The idea that a composer doesn’t have de facto the best and most illuminating approach to the work is fundamentally ridiculous.

For some reason, the software didn’t like my brackets, and wanted to make its own interpretation of my comment… ha!

Your post (delightful, impassioned rant?!) focuses on the established repertoire of The Long Departed Great Masters, and I’m not about to counter your thoughts. But I’ll throw in my two cents regarding new pieces: I think that many composers, no matter how experienced, can benefit from a little friendly editing here and there from their performer colleagues. Having worked with so many composers, I’m guessing you might agree. Speaking as a living, breathing, open-eared and entirely fallible composer-person, I welcome interpretive suggestions from musicians, and I don’t believe that every scratch mark on my precious score is sacrosanct. Just most of ‘em

Composers suffer the fate of hearing the same thing in our head over, and over, and over… and, over… as we construct a piece. We become used to the interpretive choices we’ve made as we scribble away. Thus, due to nothing more exotic than the dull thud of familiarity and a lack of creative thinking at the eleventh hour when we need to deliver the music, That To Which We Have Become Accustomed becomes The Published Score. Most of it accurately represents our intentions. But there’s usually room for some collaboration: the piece comes alive in the musician’s hands, not in the composer’s mind.

In my own scores, I’m a stickler for plenty of indications: after all, they must represent my intentions since the musicians can’t read my mind. But I still regard some of these markings as a reasonable point of departure for the player. I think of my dynamics and tempi like the cereal box photo of the cornflakes in a bowl filled with milk, with the caption, “suggested serving.” Yes, milk is a fine choice. But a creative artist might suggest something else that works wonderfully, too.

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Hmm… I know composers far more accomplished than I who would chime in with me to admit that there are times when we desperately need to be further illuminated That’s why we need musicians! To me, bringing a composer’s work to life is a collaborative effort, even when the composer knows quite well what he or she intends. Not only is there always room for cello, but there’s always room for enlightenment!

Do you think that younger musicians have a tendency to be loose and interpretive with the repertoire, because they live in an informal culture of endless interactivity, choice, and mash-ups? They simply don’t see the boundaries that have framed the way people like you and I approach such revered music. To some of them, everything is a potentially blank page, no matter what notes have already been printed on it!