Why musical dogma is so bad for Bach | Letters

I was intrigued by the argument between András Schiff and the so-called “Devil’s Advocate” over the interpretation of Bach (András Schiff: why my Goldberg Variations do a dance with the devil, 6 August). There are surely two aspects to this. One is that writing music is a gamble: once composers are dead, they can’t control how their works will be treated. A live composer can give guidance and with luck might find sympathetic interpreters. Michael Tippett, with whom I was cl