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I just came back from a wonderful presentation given at Indiana University by Malcolm Bilson, the eminent pianist who specialises in performance on all kinds of historical pianos. I heard him give a similar lecture several years ago when i was at the University of Colorado. At that time, I felt he was a bit too militant and unforgiving in his opinions - the musical equivalent of Richard Dawkins. Today, although he spoke with equally passionate conviction, he seemed more willing to engage in discussion with those students who raised questions about what he had presented.

But more on that in a later post, once I've had time to digest it all. At this stage I want to write about a relatively minor issue of truth that came up while I was working as assistant librarian at Marlboro Music over the summer. The tiny community of Marlboro, Vermont plays host every year to one of the great chamber music festivals in the world. This year it celebrated its 60th anniversary, led by music directors Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode. The students who get selected for this festival are among the top young instrumentalists and singers of today, and rehearse and perform chamber music alongside more experienced professional performers. I was fortunate to see some pretty spectacular concerts.