Reviews are tricky

“The performance is exhilarating and makes for a satisfying, if intense, listening session.”
-The Whole Note on Marrow: The 6 Suites by J.S. Bach

Reviews are tricky.

I was warned once that if you believe the good ones, then you have to believe the bad ones too.

And there is also something interesting about seeing my work reflected back to me and finding out what others see in it.

Example: one recent review of Marrow talks about some choices that I made and how as a result
“Listening attention focuses entirely on the musical material “

I’m thinking to myself “Of course it’s about the musical material! What else is there?”
But that’s not the case for everyone. For some it’s about the presentation, or about playing it “well” or to other people’s liking.

I know some people aren’t going to like how I play Bach but I didn’t do this album for them. And I didn’t do it to prove to someone I could play the notes (I’ve been playing all six since I was a teenager). I play these Suites because the music means something to me and if I had words for it, I wouldn’t be playing them!

The other thing that I take for granted is that people listen to Bach to be moved. But what I’m forgetting is that these works are played as background music or as “relaxing” music. Just like I wouldn’t listen to a great audiobook as background music, I don’t think these Suites are sonic wallpaper.