I Always Hated It, Until Now

The life of the ear was proved yesterday when Dave Eggar came over for another life-changing rehearsal, this time of a work which I have hated playing (and having to listen to) for decades: Schumann Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73. The piano part - often relegated to "accompaniment" - is almost undecipherable, to such an extent that while unraveling it, I stumbled upon a misprint in the printed edition due to the editor's having misread a stroke of Schumann's pen for a note, which it isn't. (The ms. is available on-line on imslp.)

Because Eggar has an incredibly responsive ear he could tell immediately, after just 4 bars, that this would be a life- and cello-changer. Being fiercely loyal to his own instincts, he trusts mine. My instincts tell me loud and clear that hating a composition actually invites - indeed, demands - diggjng deeper into the work of the genius who managed to bring that state of being into life via tone.