This morning I am driving in to work with a lot on my mind and I turn on the radio. And what do I hear but one of the suites from "Der Rosenkavalier."
And I am listening. And immediately I start kvetching to myself.
The performance is too herky-jerky. The tempos are too erratic. Phrases are exaggerated. The wrong things are brought out. It is not the way I like it. It is overengineered. Why are conductors always overengineering things?
That was when I suddenly came to my senses.
Who was overengineering things? Me.
Here I was facing this stressful day, and I was driving in to work, and "Rosenkavalier" ...
... was on the radio. It did not have to be. All of a sudden my day was touched by magic. So what if it wasn't perfect?
Why look that gift horse in the mouth?
That was not the performance I heard, by the way. I chose that clip because I liked the idea of its slideshow. The performance I heard ended when I pulled into my parking space. For the record it was conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.
By that time all was forgiven.
You should never become so critical of music that you cannot enjoy it!
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