David Hurwitz

[timwtheov]

Overall an engaging presenter and staggeringly erudite when it comes to the volume of music he knows. Can there be anyone alive with more knowledge of classical music recordings? He is particularly useful in exploring more obscure composers. His blind spots are often bizarre (eg he finds the St Matthew Passion boring, thinks Sullivan is the greatest English composer and completely misses the whole point about lieder) but we all have similar aesthetic shortcomings.
I feel his channel would be improved if he allowed more discussion rather than deleting anything which riles him.

I tend to agree with this assessment. I'd been a long time reader of ClassicsToday (particularly when it was all free) after reading Beethoven or Bust many years ago. I was therefore used to Hurwitz's preferences (generally fast, intense performances of his favorite romantic, post-romantic, and modernist era works, American orchestras, etc.) and antipathies (slow performances, poor-sounding historical performances, the British music press, Rattle and Norrington, some parts of the historically informed performance world, etc.). However, I mostly love his videos, even when I disagree with his takes (I tend to like Rattle's recordings a lot, for example, and I'm also partial to slow, intense performances a la Celibidache), because I love his irreverence, which doesn't seem to be to everyone's taste on the forum here. He's funny, and thus personable. I also usually like his topics, for being addicted to making playlists, I can't have enough "Fabulous Concert Programs," say, or some of the one-offs like "16 Symphonies after Franck" (or whatever it was called) since he often juxtaposes pieces I'd never link, whicih in turn helps me discover new work.

[Karl Henning]

Now he seems to be throwing topics at the wall to see what sticks.

Not really a growth strategy, is it?

[Karl Henning]

There are a few posters here that probably have.  I'm still often surprised by some of the very deep and broad discussions that happen here.  Welcome!  I hope you enjoy chatting with us.

I was going to say: there may be rather a population of them (I'm not nominating myself) only perhaps they don't elect to post on YouTube.

[DavidW]

I was going to say: there may be rather a population of them (I'm not nominating myself) only perhaps they don't elect to post on YouTube.

Do you remember that poster on CMG that had some crazy # like 20 or 40k cds?  I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few posters here that have 10k+ cds.  One or two might even have that many just in Bach.

[Jo498]

My observations on Hurwitz:
Overall an engaging presenter and staggeringly erudite when it comes to the volume of music he knows. Can there be anyone alive with more knowledge of classical music recordings? He is particularly useful in exploring more obscure composers. His blind spots are often bizarre (eg he finds the St Matthew Passion boring, thinks Sullivan is the greatest English composer and completely misses the whole point about lieder) but we all have similar aesthetic shortcomings.

I don't mind the blind spots in principle but he cannot at the same time claim that with his "reviewer hat" on he can review anything fairly and neutrally and then celebrate his blind spots often by insulting people who disagree (from the Horenstein fans to the Bruckner alternative versions to friends of Lieder or Christians who believe in the crucifixion story).
I have met more knowledgeable people on the internet than Hurwitz. While few to none have his breadth, they'll know more about certain topics (e.g Bach or Italian opera or Wagner or whatever). Nevertheless, I think his commentaries are sometimes impeded by his blind spots.