On 09 December 2001 14:20, Mike Pritchard [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote: > Marian said: > >>I have never heard Kenny G. play and I would probably agree with you that Wayne Shorter plays better than him and most other people for that matter, but I don't like going there. I feel there is something inherently bad/wrong in making these kinds of comparisons/judgments.<<
Mike writes: >> But surely Marian you will not deny that records by these, and other, musicians CAN be compared. When we all sent our desert island disks to the list we had to make objective and/or subjective judgments on what to include on the list. Surely your criterion for inclusion was that you (and all of us too, of course) felt that these records were better than others. If not, how did you decide? << My choices were based on personal taste - they were totally subjective. Musical taste is so individual. I have a very dear sister and we agree about everything except music. Her list of favorite songs/albums would be totally different from mine. Who is to say which list is better? Can that even be said? The lists are simply different. There are people who think Rickie Lee Jones is far better/more creative than Joni. There are people who think Natalie Merchant is better than anyone else around. There are some people who love heavy metal. These are subjective judgements and who is to say that they are wrong? There is an infinity of stuff out there and enough for everyone to find something that they can relate to. I think Glenn Gould played Bach better than anyone else I have ever heard and most (not all) of his Bach recordings are quite good. If I were going to recommend Bach's music to someone, I would choose some selected songs from GG's recordings to get them started. But I know that there are people involved in classical music who totally hate GG! They would never recommend anything by him. I think there is a place for judgement in making decisions about what to buy and what to recommend to other people, but I have learned, after following glowing recommendations from various people here about certain artists, that the musical experience didn't always live up to my expectations. The only explanation for that is differing musical tastes. We don't all like the same things. I think Michael Y made a good point, when he talked about the discussions about music leading to more openness and expansion of musical taste. There is value in that expansion. Mike writes: >> We live in a very competitive world and I wish there were other ways to live our lives other than in competition with everyone else from a very early age although I have yet to find it. << One can only encourage cooperation and collaboration - emphasize their value - within one's own sphere of influence. I think that's the most that anyone can do. Marian
