LOCO NOTION:

When greatness grates (Norman Lebrecht, 1/29/03, Evening Standard)

Anyone who has ever attended two orchestral concerts knows the line that divides the memorable from the pleasurable. The critical function, active even in the least sophisticated, identifies relative degrees of performance, the highest of which we call "great".

No one who saw Nureyev dance, Callas sing and Gielgud soliloquise would argue with that premise. Those artists were, in a word, great: both in comparison with their contemporaries and on an absolute level in performing history.

Greatness is by definition rare, and fast becoming rarer. Perhaps because so much of the art of interpretation is fakable on film, the magnetism of high performance has been dulled and mediocrity can pass, on first impression, for mastery, while genius is obscured by cheap gesture.

Since human nature abhors a vacuum, greatness gets bestowed on whoever catches the public eye. Ms Kylie Minogue has been named Greatest Living Australian. Not much competition, you might say, but what it is that Kylie does better than any other Aussie? The term "great" is a vital critical tool. It should not be wasted on a sprightly singer with a shapely butt. [...]

There is still greatness around us, more than there is goodness. It may contradict political correctness to shout aloud that some artists are superior to others, but those of us who admire the human mind have a duty to use "great" sparingly and defend it from media depredation. The word is a laser beam of critical therapy.

Used properly, it can restore sight. Abused, it blinds us all.

Not that sprightly singers don't have their place in the grand scheme of things... Posted by Orrin Judd at February 3, 2003 8:55 PM