... against "acoustics" in the realm of "classical music" ...
AGAINST ACOUSTICS, “SOUND” and the “CLASSICAL MUSIC” WAY OF LISTENING It has become almost a ritual gesture. One enters a “classical music” concert hall, whether an audience member, a critic, or a performer, and before a single note has sounded, the conversation has already been occupied by the topic of acoustics . How is the hall? How does it sound? Is it warm? Is it clear? Does it flatter the piano? Does the piano itself project, sing, sustain, sparkle? The first movement of the evening’s thought is always toward the MEANS . The first aesthetic judgment is always technical . Before the soul (ψυχή, psyché ) has even "heard" anything, the ear has already been colonized by the CONDITIONS of hearing. This obsession, a liturgy of sound about sound , is one of the great ironies of the "classical music" world. For it betrays a profound displacement of essence. What was once a question of TRUTH (poetic truth), has now become a question of EQUIPMENT ....