San Francisco Classical Voice

By Paul Tobias

Practitioners of the Fine Art of concert reviewing probably receive more irate letters than credit-card solicitations. Nobody can root for everything and people's feelings get hurt. Piatigorsky counselled his students to have a "theek skeen" ready to put on at certain times but I believe that the truth of a well-considered point of view is its own justification just as should be the performance of a sincere artist or the work of a competent composer.

I must tell you how gladdened I am to see what you and your articulate colleagues (well-chosen from experience) are doing at SFCV. Liberated from the dictates of indifference--Editorial-Board prioritization, where All the News is Print to Fit--you've created an elegant and eloquent editorial environment where accomplished listener/writers can put forth a real point of view, well thought-out and focused in such a way that the reader has the opportunity of getting involved in the discussion.

Your lead editorial on virtuosos, for example and juxtaposed as it is with Stuart Canin's insightful review--gives voice to things that concern me as a solo artist and teacher. [ed.note: Both articles are available in the 11/17 issue by clicking on "Last Week" at the bottom of the page.] I have inflicted such critiques on myself as a daily navigation through years of my own work and upon my students during teaching: it is an heretical philosophy of down-sizing the ego of the player and devoting one's attention and astonishment to the accomplishments of the composer. My playing hasn't suffered from this, indeed quite the opposite.

I remember first hearing Stravinsky's famous remark, "There is no such thing as interpretation, only structure." As a music-school denizen, I had thought he was an old windbag derogating those of us who actually put ourselves on the line in concert. But after teaching Music 180 (Performance and Analysis) with Leon Kirchner at Harvard (wonderfully eccentric and provocative man), my outlook changed and I learned that one can be a magical Mozart pianist and do a "killer" analysis of how (and why) every germ of musical creativity is utilized, reasserted and ingeniously exploited by a master composer.

The old man [Stravinsky] was right. I have come to believe that how one actually sees Art (its structure of composition, stripped free of traditions and the acquired "wisdom" of unnumbered layers of style and distortion): that is interpretation. You are right: the means of realization should be subordinated to the astonishment and love of the work, not grandstanded cheaply. Thanks to you all for saying what needs to be said.

Not to ignore Canin's review--I found it eloquent, a master violinist and master musician firmly and humanely offering counsel based on wisdom; one hopes it might penetrate the veil of handlers and promoters.

(Paul Tobias is a concert cellist and teacher, a Bay Area native living in New York. He also directs the New Heritage Foundation which promotes education for peace and understanding, commissioning compositions to honor people, events and themes in modern history.)