The Proof Is In The Jam - Part 6: The Last Take

No doubt my reader(s) is (are) quite familiar with John Wisdom's "Logical Constructions", a series of five articles that appeared in Mind beginning in April 1931 and ending April 1933. Wisdom sought to elucidate - give an analysis of - the meaning of "Pennies are logical constructions". He wasn't satisfied with his efforts given to defining logical construction. In these pages I have recently attempted to provide an account of jazz vocal performance, while avoiding ideas about jazz vocal interpretation, in Jerrold Levinson's sense. I tried to confute ideas set forth in Levinson's paper about jazz vocal interpretation. I think my views are well founded given what I think that I have discerned about jazz vocal performance from having participated in Sarah Vaughan-Billy Eckstine and Johnny Hartman jazz vocal events as a member of their audiences, having listened to recorded performances and read the works of those who know about these very interesting matters.
  We are also aware of the (once) popular tune, "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" - Levinson says, interpretation; I say, performance; Let's call the whole thing off!
  Back in the fabulous '60s I found Wisdom's Logical Construction quite interesting - in fact I was enthralled by his articles: Wisdom was jammin'. Those were the days!
  I could say, probably did say, that certainly musicians perform works of music. They sit at a piano (say) and attempt to decode marks on the music-score in front of them. After a musician decodes Alban Berg's Piano Sonata, marks-up her score with accents and helpful hints to aid in her performance and understanding, practices and rehearses playing her score; she's ready to perform her (marked-up score) - from memory or otherwise, it doesn't matter. Even if we grant that our pianist has interpreted her version of Berg's score in various ways, what are we comparing her performance of her score with? Do we compare her marked-up score with the latest Berg score, the score Berg scholars?
  I don't think we want to say the the set of Glenn Gould's performances of Berg's sonata is extensionally equivalent to the set of his interpretations of the sonata. Why not? Because interpretations (if such there are) could be private, could be unperformed, unrealized. In 1970, Glenn Gould wrote a piece that appeared in High Fidelity, June issue, entitled "A Desert Island Discography" [see The Glenn Gould Reader, pps. 437-40]. Gould writes of Bruno Maderna's "realization" of Schoenberg's Serenade, Op. 24, of Karajan's "version" of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony, etc. Gould doesn't use "interpretation" anywhere in his piece.
  Interpretations of works, tunes, music occur - if at all - ,in the quite thin sense of the term, at the practice, pre-performance stages of a musical work or improvisation. Once a performer hits the stage, club, or recording studio there are no interpretations - just versions, realizations, improvisations &c.
  Interpretations reside with music critics and certainly with literary critics and with philosophers, or so I suppose. We'll treat style at another time.