The Classical Chat Thread

[SurprisedByBeauty]

My latest on ClassicsToday


Volume 26: St. Gallen's Bach Cantata Cycle Marches On



Karajan's 1970s Beethoven In Blu-ray Audio: A Controversial Set Revisited



Rubinsky & Bach: A Grand Suite of Dunces


...and in the Catholic Herald:

The Saint who Brought the Best out of Dvořák


The setting: a pagan celebration of budding spring. Young Ludmila, still years away from becoming a patron saint of Bohemia, laps it up; the oceanic feeling stirs strongly within her...

[Karl Henning]

A world-class trombonist recovers from injury:

http://www.earrelevant.net/2019/07/cd-review-ash-reflects-upon-trombonists-recovery-from-injury/

[Mandryka]

Very fair review of Rubinsky there, Jens.  I noticed that the CD's called Magna Sequentia I as if there's going to be a II and a III.

Does she get a chance to respond? I mean, does anyone send your review to her and ask her what she thinks? That would be very good.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Very fair review of Rubinsky there, Jens.  I noticed that the CD's called Magna Sequentia I as if there's going to be a II and a III.

Does she get a chance to respond? I mean, does anyone send your review to her and ask her what she thinks? That would be very good.

First of all, thanks for the kind words.

Secondly: I am not sure artists SHOULD be reading reviews. At least not of critics they don't somehow know and respect. There's too much nonsense out there for them to find it worthwhile troubling with some opinions... what does Mme. Rubinsky, for example, know whether I'm some prick with an agenda and tin cans for ears or a serious-minded fella with golden lobes. She would rightly dismiss it; after all, people she has trusted have gone along with this project so far.

It's rare that artists respond well to a critical review (plenty of them don't even manage to respond well to a good review. See this response, for example, from Stuart Skelton, after I praised his Siegmund very warmly, but mentioned something less flattering about his German in passing: https://twitter.com/StuartSkelton/status/1149898840448753664

That said, I do -- obviously -- think that my criticism has a point (otherwise why bother). And in this case it might reach her. Jed Distler is a very good acquaintance of hers, and who knows: they might end up making mention of it, at some point.

And yes, the title does suggest we're in for more of the same. Not that I think that's terrible. It's just -- as of yet -- not nearly what it could be.

[Florestan]

I am not sure artists SHOULD be reading reviews.

The business of artists is to perform music. The business of critics is to review performances. In both cases, the audience is sovereign. 

[Pat B]

I am not sure artists SHOULD be reading reviews. At least not of critics they don't somehow know and respect. There's too much nonsens out there for them to find it worthwhile troubling with some opinions... what does Mme. Rubinsky, for example, know whether I'm some prick with an agenda and tin cans for ears or a serious-minded fella with golden lobes. She would rightly dismiss it; after all, people she has trusted have gone along with this project so far.

I have mixed feelings about this. You are correct that there is a lot of nonsense out there. But it's often good to get feedback — and you can't always count on blunt honesty from friends and colleagues.

One time when my band was recording something, a friend from another band mentioned that we sped up slightly in one part of a song. In fact it was supposed to accelerate, and playing it felt like it did so significantly, but going back and listening after he said that, I could hear that it wasn't enough. We subsequently pushed it much harder, and it made that song better. So I was really glad he alerted me. But I remember he was apprehensive, maybe even apologetic, about making any critique, and I suspect many people would have found it easier to remain silent.

Obviously CD reviews are different — by that point it's too late to fix that particular recording — but attentive, thoughtful criticism could still be useful for future projects.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I have mixed feelings about this. You are correct that there is a lot of nonsense out there. But it's often good to get feedback — and you can't always count on blunt honesty from friends and colleagues.

One time when my band was recording something, a friend from another band mentioned that we sped up slightly in one part of a song. In fact it was supposed to accelerate, and playing it felt like it did so significantly, but going back and listening after he said that, I could hear that it wasn't enough. We subsequently pushed it much harder, and it made that song better. So I was really glad he alerted me. But I remember he was apprehensive, maybe even apologetic, about making any critique, and I suspect many people would have found it easier to remain silent.

Obviously CD reviews are different — by that point it's too late to fix that particular recording — but attentive, thoughtful criticism could still be useful for future projects.

I don't disagree that it's good to get feedback. Indeed, I wish some artists got a lot more. As you point out, they tend to be surrounded largely by Yes-men and -women and adoring nitwits.
But I also don't think that feedback can be accepted and properly processed when it comes from a non-authoritative source or one that you are somehow positively pre-disposed to. (Like a friend.)
De-facto-anonymous feedback, like a review, esp. when it isn't a famous reviewer (i.e. if a Joachim Kaiser had written something about an aspiring pianist or a H.Schoenberg about an aspiring String Quartet), is largely useless because it doesn't have the power to alter perceived realities and attitudes... which is usually what it takes. Unless it happens to already be in line with a nagging suspicion on the performer's part.


Speaking of anonymous criticism eanwhile: Latest on ClassicsToday

Akeo Watanabe's Sibelius Cycle On Denon




Herr Tesla's Adventures in Brabant"—Piotr Beczala's Lohengrin (Blu-ray)




World-Première Orchestral Songs From Ernő Dohnányi

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Recent #CDReviews on ClassicsToday:



Karl Böhm's #AlpineSymphony Revisited

https://classicstoday.com/review/karl-bohms-alpine-symphony-revisited/

&



A (Very!) Fine #Messiah From Václav Luks and Collegium 1704

https://classicstoday.com/review/a-fine-messiah-from-vaclav-luks-and-collegium-1704/

[Ken B]

I don't know where to post this actually. Why modern opera conductors suck, 20 minutes. Wonderfully mean spirited in places but I think it makes a strong case, especially about the futility of treating libretti like Shakespeare or Ibsen rather.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=buhPaPRbppU

[Moonfish]

I don't know where to post this actually. Why modern opera conductors suck, 20 minutes. Wonderfully mean spirited in places but I think it makes a strong case, especially about the futility of treating libretti like Shakespeare or Ibsen rather.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=buhPaPRbppU

Ah, Ken. That is a fascinating exploration of voice and opera. Thanks for posting it.  For some reason I have been listening a bit to old voice recordings on the Nimbus label lately and your post was a perfect continuation. The sound is a bit muffled, but the voices are splendid!

Stuff like this:

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I don't know where to post this actually. Why modern opera conductors suck, 20 minutes. Wonderfully mean spirited in places but I think it makes a strong case, especially about the futility of treating libretti like Shakespeare or Ibsen rather.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=buhPaPRbppU

Tebaldi speaks as someone who knows only Italian opera. I'm so glad I didn't have to live in an age when opera was more as she prefers it!

[Ken B]

Here's another one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGaBEWDD_L0

[ChopinBroccoli]

I hear you; perfectly respectable view. Although I think that Hurwitz', shall we say, 'unique flavor' (a selling point in-and-of-itself; at least he's consistent so he is helpful as a critic whether you agree with him or not) are quirks. But Lebrecht is an obnoxious clickbaiting, race-baiting, nationalism-baiting hack who spreads half-truths (on a good day) and is malicious at the core. And then there's the small detail that ClassicsToday is a multiplicity of voices (Distler, Vernier, Hurwitz, Levine, Carr Jr.), not a megaphone for just one.

Lebrecht is disgusting, really

I enjoy ClassicsToday.  I don't always agree with them but the writers are consistent in their reasoning even if their reasoning and mine aren't always on the same page. 

Hurwitz and Carr, in particular both seem to be massive admirers of George Szell "Szellots" (as am I) which makes me happy

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Lebrecht is disgusting, really

I enjoy ClassicsToday.  I don't always agree with them but the writers are consistent in their reasoning even if their reasoning and mine aren't always on the same page. 

Hurwitz and Carr, in particular both seem to be massive admirers of George Szell "Szellots" (as am I) which makes me happy

"Szellots" is v. good!  I'll steal that.

[ChopinBroccoli]

"Szellots" is v. good!  I'll steal that.

Please do! Anything I can do to promote this genius and his peerless ensemble is worthwhile

[Karl Henning]

Does my heart good to see Lebrecht justly pilloried.

[Karl Henning]

Just for example:

Does my enjoyment of / admiration for / "loyalty to"  the HvK recording of Pelléas et Mélisande mean that I necessarily find other recordings, which will perforce differ in several respects, therefore "inferior."

[ChopinBroccoli]

Does my heart good to see Lebrecht justly pilloried.

He's a creep

[Brian]

I made a meme about Chicago Symphony conductors

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I made a meme about Chicago Symphony conductors

bit mean? instead of becoming a tribute to Martinon, it just makes me think of the unfairness towards the others. Even Solti, who is also not my favorite (although there are of course exceptional recordings among his output... including a couple that Sarge had to push my nose into, before I realized it), deserves better than that.