The importance of reviews to your purchases

[Brian]

I'm just curious. I can't remember if we'd talked about this before, and while thinking about Roger Ebert's recent essays on the declining importance of movie critics as people watch trailers, or see ads, and just go to the cinema, I realized that classical music lovers are one of the few surviving groups of art consumers who rely really heavily on reviews before purchasing something. I personally tend to read 3-4 reviews of the music I acquire, unless I can listen to lengthy sound samples, or unless I am reviewing the CDs myself. But I decided to put this to the test and find out from GMG: just how important are reviews to your purchasing process, anyways?

[Bulldog]

I don't read reviews to help decide my purchases; I just enjoy reading them.

[Teresa]

I picked other.

I don't base any purchases on reviews of the performances, but I might put it on my to audition list if someone raves about the sound quality.

I use streaming audio clips to discover new works and new composers.  I mostly buy computer music, high resolution downloads and even low resolution MP3s. 

I also love SACDs, but there is not much I like in that format being released lately except for the occasional Reference Recordings SACD since Telarc quit releasing SACDs over a year ago. 

So with computer music I look for music I like on labels I like first, such as Telarc, Reference Recordings, Lyrita and Mercury Living Presence.  Over half of my Classical recordings are on Telarc and most are low resolution MP3s.

As a reviewer I think too many people put too much trust in reviews.  For me a review is more of an introduction to music or composers I did not know of before.  Never blindly trust any review, listen to streaming audio the best you can and go with what has worked for you in the past.

[kishnevi]

I voted for "mix". 
Some recordings I buy as part of an ongoing series, or because of one of the performers involved (f.i. Podger, Padmore, Hamelin )--I have recordings by them and like them, so I can presume I'll get a similar result from the new one.
Other recordings, if they interest me, I will check online reviews, while deciding if I want them.  That includes Amazon reviews and remarks here on GMG, but hardly any formal "music critic".  The only one I regularly consult among the latter are the reviews (by Jens and company) on Ionarts, and that's because I've found my preferences and reactions seem in sync with theirs, so that becomes a good predictor. 
And sometimes online reviews have prompted me to buy CDs that I wasn't interested in before--for instance, I ordered the Roussel symphonies because of all the positive reactions I saw here on GMG.

[listener]

If I have read a favourable review and decide I must have it, I'll order on line or check with my local b&m's.   If it looks interesting and at a really good price locally, I'll buy it because it's there and I want it.

[Mirror Image]

Reviews are just opinions so most of them I just take with a grain of salt. Nobody knows what I'm looking for in the music.

I can, however, see the importance of a review for a classical newbie who may not know much about the music, the conductor, or the orchestra, etc., but, for me, I don't really pay much attention to what somebody has written.

[PaulR]

to me, it really depends on how many reviews are out there (generally just on amazon ((only because I am interested in what the people who got the CD thinks)). if it's just one or two reviews (good or bad), I generally ignore them.  If there is a generous amount of reviews, I look at the a couple of good reviews, and a couple of bad, just to get the different perspectives.  If it's a recording of a composer I like, and not many other choices out there (for example, the music of Weinberg), I generally just buy without the reviews.

[mc ukrneal]

I think reviews are an extemely useful tool. But the key part of them is not whether the reviewer liked a performance or not (which matters little to me), but the reasoning behind it. I also rarely buy a cd these days without listening to some of the clips on Amazon or JPC (JPC almost always has what Amazon doesn't, with a few exceptions), another critical step for me. I also like to hear what others here, at Amazon, and elsewhere have to say about it. But one must keep in mind that I avoid buying multiple versions of a work. I generally feel these days that if I buy a stinker, I didn't do my homework. I just don't have the cash (or the space or desire) to have too many copies of every work.

Of course, if the price is low enough, I'm willing to try almost anything.

[canninator]

I only want a single recording of 99% of music so go with reviews for the "best".

Guitar/lute/vihuela/theorbo etc I will listen to a sample and normally just buy as this is the music I listen to most critically and study recordings and performance choices with a score. If the samples suggest the recording is a dud I won't bother as I don't have money to burn. What I've learnt, however, over the years is that recordings with great reviews from virtuoso performers can often have unusual/interesting/incorrect (delete as appropriate) performance choices and part of the fun for me is to tut and make sure I don't do the same thing.

It gives me cause to wonder how many recordings I have in other repertoire that I am quite happy with but are plagued with similar issues. I have sometimes considered starting a thread along these lines with a low res recording, a fascimile of the score, and an analysis of the piece but life's too short!

[False_Dmitry]

The vast majority of reviews are empty guff,  written for the vanity of the reviewer.  I would rarely place any value at all on a review.  I usually purchase on the reputation of the performers.

• "A magnificent achievement by the..." = "thank you for the free discs, please send some more"[/li]
  
  • "Not since Tagliabue's recording of 1927 have we..." = "bow down and worship my familiarity with ephemera"
  • "Another Callas? Hardly! This latest dismal effort is just..." = "Wish I had a job in the opera business"

[knight66]

It varies, partly as to whether I trust the critic. But I tend to read through reviews more to find out about a new piece I don't know. So the way reviewers have written about Carl Rutti and James Whitbourn has prompted me to buy discs of the pieces described.

I was at two proms this week, I disagreed with the crits of both concerts in The Guardian, which were luke warm, I agreed with the Times critics who were much more enthusiastic. Same performance, critics who do know about music, but I don't see how such different reviews can really be legitimate. But that is just a measure of how subjective it all is.

This month's Gramophone has a long article about Jessye Norman singing jazz. By the end I was quite keen to hear it. However, there was a review which was so completely damming, regretfully so, that I will not be going near the disc. The very lukewarm consensus around a number of Dudamel discs has prevented me from buying other than the Fiesta one.

Often I have been prompted to explore by reading what people write here. So Braga Santos has been a great find, the Poulenc chamber pieces again, because of how people wrote about them. The way Bruce described Bartok's The Wooden Prince impelled me to buy it, what a marvelous piece it is. But then there was a Braunfels Requiem: what a god-awful piece that turned out to be. The person who raved about that really was raving.

So.....sometimes I pay attention, other times not. But I tend to go against the review as often as I find it resonates with what I think.

Mike

[Conor71]

I agree with Bulldog - I enjoy reading reviews but ultimately they dont much influence my purchasing decisions!.

[71 dB]

Mix of multiple approaches. Sometimes reviews are very important, sometimes not.

[False_Dmitry]

I also rarely buy a cd these days without listening to some of the clips on Amazon or JPC (

Yes, absolutely - it's usually the "final step" before getting my credit card out.

[Wanderer]

I usually rely to a varying degree on reviews for interpreters or works I'm not familiar with. Of course, if there are audio samples available online, I pretty much make up my own mind. When in comes to new releases, for interpreters I know and works I love, no reviewer is quick enough for me. However, I do read reviews of recordings I already own as a means of assessing the reviewer's compatibility with my tastes - for future reference.

[Teresa]

I do read reviews of recordings I already own as a means of assessing the reviewer's compatibility with my tastes - for future reference.

I do this as well.  So far Harry Pearson is the closest to my tastes in both music and sound quality. 

[Octo_Russ]

When i was newly into Classical music, i would buy Gramophone magazine every month, also i bought the Penguin Guides as well, they were my bible, but then slowly i started to develop my own taste, and trust my own intuition, i bought discs that were raved about by everyone, but when i got them i didn't think much of them, also i bought discs i thought were absolutely fantastic, but when i read reviews about it, everyone thought it was lacklustre, now i don't buy magazines or books.

Now i have a tendency to take risks, if it looks good go for it, that's how i got into Classical music in the first place, as well as Jazz, Country, Blues, Folk, Electronic etc, now i can buy something quite cheap on Ebay, and if i don't like it i can sell it back on Ebay, risking minimal amounts of money, quite a number of times i actually sold the disc for more than i bought it for 

Also it must be noted that for most discs i'm considering, there just isn't a review, so you have to develop your own intuition, for Rock music, i try to listen to tracks on YouTube first.

[Elgarian]

If I'm going to buy something, I tend to read as many reviews as I can (including opinions here). I don't trust any one reviewer, or their final thumbs-up or down on the CD; I'm more interested in the kind of thing they say, and how they say it. Any trace of dismissive arrogance in the reviewer is usually enough to persuade me to discount that particular opinion, for instance. Somehow in the process of reading the opinions and descriptions for their own sake, I find that I'm able to reach a decision about what to buy without being able, usually, to identify precisely what tipped the balance.

[Grazioso]

I don't read reviews to help decide my purchases; I just enjoy reading them.

Whether for books, movies, or music, I look to reviews primarily for entertainment and (ideally) edification, and usually read them after I experience the work in question. I like to see what other critical observers feel about it.

[karlhenning]

I enjoy reading this thread.