Thanks to all for the positive comments; glad to be part of a very interesting discussion with so many really great and thoughtful contributions.
Schubert, I am not surprised by the feelings of the principal clarinetist that you refer to. Playing the orchestral repertoire in a first rate orchestra is an extremely demanding and stressful job. Few outside of the profession understand just how intense the amount of preparation that is required is and how intense the pressure felt is in order to perform at such a high level in concert situations where a player doesn't have the luxury of going back to "white-out" a mistake and do it over; one shot is all one gets. So, it is not surprising that some players just don't want to listen to the repertoire for pleasure and prefer to listen to music in a different genre. A good friend and colleague who unfortunately passed away recently was one of the finest concert flautists that I have ever known and was obsessed with the music of James Brown.
An interesting extension of the subject of education and analysis is the issue of objectivism vs subjectivism in judging music and it's worth. I find this article to be a thought-provoking look at the subject:
http://www.rogerbissell.com/id11a3.html
Schubert, I am not surprised by the feelings of the principal clarinetist that you refer to. Playing the orchestral repertoire in a first rate orchestra is an extremely demanding and stressful job. Few outside of the profession understand just how intense the amount of preparation that is required is and how intense the pressure felt is in order to perform at such a high level in concert situations where a player doesn't have the luxury of going back to "white-out" a mistake and do it over; one shot is all one gets. So, it is not surprising that some players just don't want to listen to the repertoire for pleasure and prefer to listen to music in a different genre. A good friend and colleague who unfortunately passed away recently was one of the finest concert flautists that I have ever known and was obsessed with the music of James Brown.
An interesting extension of the subject of education and analysis is the issue of objectivism vs subjectivism in judging music and it's worth. I find this article to be a thought-provoking look at the subject:
http://www.rogerbissell.com/id11a3.html