Since the beginning, I detected great improvisational potential in Górecki's pieces, even though they are perfect and complete entities - and I see no contradiction here. Modern societies put great stock in defining roles and putting up clear borders. Throughout history, however, creative musicians all over the world have built on the work that came before them. They did this in a direct or veiled manner, with or without the knowledge or approval of the original creator. Standard classical interpretation itself can be seen as a manifestation or at least a remnant of prior practice. Let's look at the tropes of Perotinus, all the way through Liszt's elaborations, Stravinsky's "Pulcinella" or Berio's "Sinfonia".

Evan Ziporyn