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Transmission versus Interpretation. The Trial of Texts and Acts by Michael Talbot. Opening the essay was an imaginary scene of an orchestra preparing to play Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Along with it came four different listeners –a musicologist, a critic, a fellow musician and the soloist’s wife -- who were also preparing themselves for the performance. The musicologist, having written the programme himself, was expecting nothing less than the murder of ‘authenticity of music’ by the orchestra. Being the undisputed scholar, he feels he knows should the piece be played exactly. The orchestra he thinks, however, will not be able to deliver a piece with such perfection. The critic was less sceptical about the performance, anticipating more for the musicians to show off their playing skills and interpretation. The more virtuosity from the performers, the more things he has to write about. For him, it was boring to continually dissect each piece with music analysis that he looks forward to the spontaneity of the players themselves. The soloist’s friend, a fellow violinist who knows the piece well, wonders how his friend is going to play it, if he has been putting effort in mastering the technical aspects of the