MDPE.19:4.2 - Ensemble: the score survives, the active repertoire does not yet

An ensemble owns a score and recording, and one specialist can perform the work on a rare instrument. In this constructed case, current rehearsal, instrument, performer, permission and venue evidence support one scheduled concert. A replacement trial would displace needed preparation without changing that choice: the ensemble continues the concert arrangement and states its single-specialist dependence. That is a complete current decision, not a tested replacement. For a five-year active-repertoire promise the same basis is insufficient: maintenance, another performer, rehearsal access and organizer commitment have no tested replacements.

For that changed five-year question, suppose a qualified alternate performer, maintained instrument, rehearsal access, permission and preparation window make replacement testing both obtainable and worth its full burden. The ensemble tests an alternate performer with the maintained instrument and later a compatible substitute instrument. The first test exposes missing technique; the second changes timbre beyond the admitted continuity limit. The resulting decision can be to train the alternate performer and maintain the original instrument for two seasons while keeping the substitute as a distinct branch. These failed tests remain failed; a score-preservation project alone would not solve either failure.