"It doesn't necessarily mean at all that the composer plays his own works best"
About this Quote
A tiny heresy aimed straight at the romantic myth of the lone genius: that authenticity automatically lives in the creator's hands. Ornstein, a modernist who spent a lifetime watching his own era turn into repertory, is puncturing a comforting assumption in music culture-that authorship equals authority. The line lands with the cool practicality of someone who has heard too many performances defended on provenance rather than results.
The intent is corrective, almost pedagogical. Composers, he suggests, are not magical conduits to an ideal version of their scores; they're musicians with the same limits, habits, nerves, and blind spots as anyone else. The subtext is sharper: the cult of the composer-performer can become a kind of marketing varnish, a way to mistake biography for interpretation. Saying "the composer played it" often functions like a seal of authenticity that shuts down debate. Ornstein reopens it.
Context matters. In the early 20th century, composer-pianists (including Ornstein himself) premiered their work because no one else would, and because the new language needed advocates. But as pieces outlive their premieres, they get adopted by interpreters who can bring different training, technique, and temperament. Sometimes the best case for a work is made by someone less invested in defending it, more interested in interrogating it. Ornstein's claim also hints at a hard truth: a performer who didn't write the piece can sometimes hear it more clearly, freed from the composer's intentions, compromises, and private attachments.
It's a democratic sentence: it gives permission for masterpieces to escape their makers.
The intent is corrective, almost pedagogical. Composers, he suggests, are not magical conduits to an ideal version of their scores; they're musicians with the same limits, habits, nerves, and blind spots as anyone else. The subtext is sharper: the cult of the composer-performer can become a kind of marketing varnish, a way to mistake biography for interpretation. Saying "the composer played it" often functions like a seal of authenticity that shuts down debate. Ornstein reopens it.
Context matters. In the early 20th century, composer-pianists (including Ornstein himself) premiered their work because no one else would, and because the new language needed advocates. But as pieces outlive their premieres, they get adopted by interpreters who can bring different training, technique, and temperament. Sometimes the best case for a work is made by someone less invested in defending it, more interested in interrogating it. Ornstein's claim also hints at a hard truth: a performer who didn't write the piece can sometimes hear it more clearly, freed from the composer's intentions, compromises, and private attachments.
It's a democratic sentence: it gives permission for masterpieces to escape their makers.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|
More Quotes by Leo
Add to List
