“Portraits in Beams and Barlines: Critical Music Editing and the Art of Notation”

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RMK
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Re: “Portraits in Beams and Barlines: Critical Music Editing and the Art of Notation”

Post by RMK »

David Ward wrote: 15 Mar 2022, 15:55 One must have the ability to express oneself clearly and simply; but is it always the only ‘good’ way?
+1

Let's be thankful that Mr. Ruggero wasn't James Joyce's publisher!
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John Ruggero
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Re: “Portraits in Beams and Barlines: Critical Music Editing and the Art of Notation”

Post by John Ruggero »

I put a question mark after the "composing" since we had been discussing expository rather than creative writing. I think that one must take account of the complexity of what is being expressed.

For example, I think Joyce did express himself simply and clearly. He had one of the greatest English prose styles ever and polished every sentence he wrote to a high gloss, as if it were poetry. What he is expresses is often complex, but he expressed it as simply and clearly as possible. There have been many writers of fiction that have not been able to do that. Mark Twain used to poke fun at the bloated prose style of James Fenimore Cooper, for example. He was very sensitive to this because he, like Joyce, had a wonderfully simple and clear prose style.
Last edited by John Ruggero on 16 Mar 2022, 16:42, edited 1 time in total.
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John Ruggero
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Re: “Portraits in Beams and Barlines: Critical Music Editing and the Art of Notation”

Post by John Ruggero »

David Ward wrote: 15 Mar 2022, 15:55 One must have the ability to express oneself clearly and simply; but is it always the only ‘good’ way?
By "simply", I meant "economy of means" as opposed to its opposite. I personally think that that is a very good thing in the creative arts, as well as in expository writing. But that's just me.

And so I prefer the second version of Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata no. 2 to the first version that he came to think was self-indulgent, over-written and unfocused. But many pianists now prefer the first version.
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