...We do not agree however that an inspection of the "score" would have led us to alter any of the observations offered above after a first hearing of the Eighth Symphony...
Yes it would have done! You would not have expected there to have been a break between movements 4 and 5, and you are likely to have thought more carefully about your remarks concerning S's orchestral management before making them (even if they remained essentially the same).
Our Capitalist system with-holds "scores" from the view of ordinary people. "Scores" are kept in obscure repositories to which access is restricted. Nor are ordinary people educated in the reading of "scores"; they are told only that it is an arcane art not for the likes of them. Private persons who have somehow come into the possession of a "score" of their very own tend to treasure it and dust it down daily.
There is nothing "ordinary" about a person who, like you, publishes a "report" on a major symphony that is then available worldwide to readers, and can be easily found via Google.
A score of this work - far from being unavailable - was recently noted for sale in good condition, second-hand, for the sum of £7 (which must be even less than the cost of a CD of the work).
If the Member is one of those in the fortunate position of being in possession of or of having access to this "score" we and most other Members we are sure would appreciate his going to the trouble of scanning it and somehow making it available to all with an interest potential or actual. Put up a PDF we cry!
"Put up a PDF we cry!" indeed!
It is hardly an expression of "absolute and objective standards of taste" to urge somebody to infringe copyright laws by publishing a COPY of copyright materials, especially since they are readily available anyway. The time and effort needed to create PDFs of an entire Shostakovich score would in any case be completely wasted upon someone (such as yourself) who has already stated (above) that viewing the score would make no difference at all to an assessment of the work.
Baz
