David Tayler wrote: >It's all relative. >I just think that the demands made on a professional lute player, and >by that I mean someone who only plays concerts, >no teaching, no job, etc--just concerts-- are less than a person in >the same position on piano, organ, violin, cello, etc. > > > Does such a person exist? Not in Europe, anyway. How many solo lute concerts were there in the UK last year? I don't know, but it can't be more than a handful. The "classical" guitar is also no longer a vehicle for a concert career: Segovia's project, of trying to make the guitar an instrument for solo recital (like the piano) worked for a while, but now there are world-class guitarists playing for guitar societies for incredibly small fees, just to get any playing at all. I'm not sure this kind of "recital culture" is appropriate for the lute anyway, and thankfully there is more to the lute than solo music. The only people I know who make anything like a living out of the lute actually play the theorbo all the time. Once upon a time, when recordings payed royalties, people made some money that way, but now it seems the only reason for making a recording is because you want to publicize your work and share your enjoyment of the music with others.
Best wishes, Martin - who is thinking again about doing some recording, inspired by David's recent experiments.... it might reach more people than the six old ladies at the back of the church, anyway. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
