An Apparently Necessary Clarification

We thought it entirely unnecessary, but apparently we were wrong. Our diatribes against the iPod (and by extension, MP3 players generally) as a means of experiencing classical music (here, here, and peripherally here) seem to have struck more than a few (e.g., here, here, here, and here) as an argument against experiencing classical music via recordings generally. What seems to have set folks off on the wrong track was our categorical declaration that,

[A] live performance is quite literally an irreproducible benchmark, and the only true and fully acceptable means of experiencing classical music. [emphasis added]

We stand by that categorical declaration unreservedly, but would point out that at the same time we also declared the following which seems to have been missed entirely, and which declaration we also stand by unreservedly:

[I] assure you I'm hardly one to pooh-pooh or sell short recorded performances. I love them. Nay, I cherish them, and couldn't imagine life without them. Lots of them.

The two declarations are by no means mutually incompatible, and can coexist side by side in perfect comfort. The point we were making (or thought we were making) was simply that the experiencing of classical music via each of the two means results in a markedly different musical experience for each, and that the experiencing of a recorded performance should never be mistaken for nor can it ever replace satisfactorily the experiencing of the Real Deal: a performance heard live. As we further explained,

[E]xperiencing a recorded performance is a musical experience quite different from the musical experience of a live concert. And by that, I don't mean merely that playing back a recorded performance in a home environment can't equal the acoustic experience of a performance in a concert hall, even given a superbly recorded performance, superb reproduction equipment, and the most elaborately and carefully prepared listening environment. I mean the two experiences are two different musical experiences, exclusive even of the shared communal experience of a live concert which I here disregard entirely for purposes of simplicity, and to maintain focus on a more central aspect of the question. One hears music differently in a live performance, and that hearing simply cannot be experienced via a reproduction no matter how good the reproduction may be in both recording and playback.

We trust the above will lay to rest any lingering notions that in our diatribes against the iPod we were somehow dismissing recorded performances generally as a valid — and valuable — means of experiencing classical music. We most decidedly were not, for, as we thought we had made perfectly clear, we couldn't imagine life without them.