David Hurwitz

[Florestan]

Disagree.

I could imagine just listening to music without worrying what this clown constantly laughing at his own old-man jokes says is a much better way to spend one's time.

Who says I worry?

[aukhawk]

Ooooh, I've gotta get that Ormandy Dance of the Seven Veils right now!

That's an image that's not going to go away easily ...

[Todd]

Who says I worry?

Note that Hurwitz is younger than Herman.

[Daverz]

Ooooh, I've gotta get that Ormandy Dance of the Seven Veils right now!

The best Dance of the Seven Veils was by Maria Ewing.

[MN Dave]

What do you watch on YouTube when you're not watching the Hurwitzer?

[vandermolen]

The best Dance of the Seven Veils was by Maria Ewing.

I met her as she was the mother of a girl that I once taught (the actress Rebecca Hall).

[staxomega]

Can anyone elaborate on Hurwitz's insistence that they used vibrato in baroque/early classical era? I have heard him mention it once maybe twice but I don't think I caught any elaboration why he thinks this other than some comment about academics being idiots. I do listen to these in the car and sometimes my screaming flat 6 does drown out his squeaking  0:). I've tried searching and came up with nothing.

It's fine to have opinions and if he personally likes vibrato in that era more power to him, but I'm more curious as his proclamation was stated as a fact.

[Biffo]

Can anyone elaborate on Hurwitz's insistence that they used vibrato in baroque/early classical era? I have heard him mention it once maybe twice but I don't think I caught any elaboration why he thinks this other than some comment about academics being idiots. I do listen to these in the car and sometimes my screaming flat 6 does drown out his squeaking  0:). I've tried searching and came up with nothing.

It's fine to have opinions and if he personally likes vibrato in that era more power to him, but I'm more curious as his proclamation was stated as a fact.

I am sure we have discussed this at length somewhere in this forum. From what I can remember vibrato was used in the periods you mentioned but very sparingly - it was a decoration, not something applied with a trowel.

[Jo498]

Hurwitz has at least two major obsessions. One is with percussion, especially tam tam because he played this in the orchestra. From the earliest days of classicstoday this one was obvious because his reviews were uncommonly detailed on percussion.
The second that was apparently triggered by Norrington's "anti-vibrato" stance is the history of vibrato. He actually got a publication on this into a real musicological journal (I think).
There are some more minor obsessions I had not been aware of before he started the video series, namely his dislike of most earlier/alternative versions of e.g. Bruckner symphonies (and Mahler 1st) and his even more exaggerated dislike of the musicologists who do such editions/reconstructions.

[André]

Another pet peeve of his is the british musical establishment, especially their musical critics. Gramophone is a favourite target.

[Jo498]

But this is not a Hurwitz speciality. In the mid-1990s I encountered both international internet discussions on classical music and the Penguin/Gramophone guides for the first time and people on the internet made fun of the British bias and general old-fashioned character of these publications.
While there was no opportunity in his written reviews, in the videos he also loves to mangle foreign languages despite claiming (probably correctly so) to understand/speak them. But with the either sloppy or deliberate mispronunciations he is exactly in line with cliché US boorishness in this regard.

[Madiel]

Yes, I've rather winced at his efforts with foreign names. Not because he does them awkwardly, but because he then acts as if it doesn't matter at all whether he makes a decent effort or not.

[Jo498]

It's a strange discrepancy. In one video he claimed being able to speak a whole bunch of languages (certainly French, German and Italian) and then he seems to deliberately make a Chaplinesque mess out of some musician's name or title of a piece or aria in German. Sure, it might be funny ONCE or when it is about Nazi caricatures but in Bach passions or even in Wagner it's quite unnecessary.

[Florestan]

He also said "cum grano salis*, as we say in Yiddish". I don't know if it was a deliberate joke or a genuine mistake --- you never know with Hurwitz.

*actually 'twas another Latin expression, I can't remember it otomh so I replaced it with the first that came to my mind

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

It's a strange discrepancy. In one video he claimed being able to speak a whole bunch of languages (certainly French, German and Italian) and then he seems to deliberately make a Chaplinesque mess out of some musician's name or title of a piece or aria in German. Sure, it might be funny ONCE or when it is about Nazi caricatures but in Bach passions or even in Wagner it's quite unnecessary.

I think he was a grad student in European history at one time, which means he needed to be able to read those languages, but not necessarily speak them.

[Artem]

Is there somebody on youtube doing similar enthusiastic videos of more contemporary repertoire and record labels?

[vandermolen]

I enjoyed his survey of recordings of 'Job' by Vaughan Williams last night as well as his enthusiasm for the Madetoja symphonies.

[Artem]

Ideal Chopin Works video was enjoyable to watch.

[Symphonic Addict]

It's really surprising that this guy has ever talked about composers different to the hardcore Austro-German repertoire on his videos. Actually it's a miracle. But what the heck, I'm eager to watch Bach's cantatas, round 2, or Mahler's ideal cycle, volumes 2 and 3.

[71 dB]

His Youtube videos are so cool. Started watching them a few days ago. His mannerism is my drug. Tam tam!! Funny man.