Perfection be Damned

Having worked intensively on the Schumann Fantasy Pieces Dave Eggar and I did not have time to dig into the Brahms E minor. When we performed it, then, it took us both by surprise. We ended up, after each having been momentarily flummoxed by Brahms's on and off beats, laughing out loud: the last movement, which had always previously seemed interminable for no good reason, was now utterly transformed into spoof of the highest order and no one in the room wanted it to stop.

It is of the utmost importance that Classical music not be associated with either perfection or the false notion that repetition is in any way relevant. The better the composition, the more likely that it will defy perfection. As for repetition, that should have gone out of usage with rote learning..