Friday, February 10, 2006

Invasion of Privacy?

I always feel a little dirty when I'm reading through Beethoven's letters. Even though they are now published in numerous wonderful translations and have been read by the general public for many years, I still think that LvB would not be completely comfortable with me pouring over the minutae of his daily life. It's fascinating, but those of us who do so should not pretend that we're better than the readers of the National Enquirer(well, not much better).

I mention Beethoven, because once again a "complete" box set has been released. This time it includes all of the outtakes, bad takes and mistakes of Miles Davis' Cellar Door Sessions.

Would Miles Davis want us listening to these recordings? In the Guardian, John L. Walters seems to think the answer in NO. That's probably true. Still, those who want to sit through the recordings might learn a thing or two (like why Miles didn't use these takes and why he didn't think people would pay money for them).
Link to article

No comments: