Classical Music Reviews - magazines & online sources

Started by Que, September 17, 2007, 08:35:22 AM

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North Star

Quote from: Zizekian on July 03, 2012, 06:09:38 PM
How accurate does everyone find the classical music review section on the NPR Music website? I'm still learning the ropes when it comes to purchasing classical music (well, as a more discriminating consumer and not just buying box sets from the bargain bins!).

I have no idea of NPR, but I recommend asking here on the 'Recordings you are considering' thread (and searching for earlier discussions), and reading Amazon reviews, although most of them are worthless, some are very knowledgeable reviewers (it's awful if Giordano Bruno quit permanently).
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

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Zizekian

Quote from: North Star on July 04, 2012, 02:39:40 AM
I have no idea of NPR, but I recommend asking here on the 'Recordings you are considering' thread (and searching for earlier discussions), and reading Amazon reviews, although most of them are worthless, some are very knowledgeable reviewers (it's awful if Giordano Bruno quit permanently).

Thanks!

eyeresist

Quote from: Zizekian on July 03, 2012, 06:09:38 PMHow accurate does everyone find the classical music review section on the NPR Music website? I'm still learning the ropes when it comes to purchasing classical music (well, as a more discriminating consumer and not just buying box sets from the bargain bins!).

I don't know that "accuracy" enters into the matter, beyond getting the name of the piece right and being able to tell if the musicians are in tune. The rest is a matter of personal taste, so the trick is to find critics whose taste complements your own.

jlaurson

#43
Quote from: eyeresist on July 04, 2012, 06:33:16 PM
I don't know that "accuracy" enters into the matter, beyond getting the name of the piece right and being able to tell if the musicians are in tune. The rest is a matter of personal taste, so the trick is to find critics whose taste complements your own.

That's not quite right, I hope. A good critic is one where you don't need his or her tastes to complement your own to a.) enjoy reading a review (super-rare, because most of the writing is at such a low level) and b.) gain enough information, objective and subjective reaction, to begin form an opinion of your own. Think - in live reviews - of what Martin Bernheimer can do.


Beale

I don't believe this site has been mentioned previously: The Flying Inkpot Classical Music ( http://www.flyinginkpot.com/ )

There are some useful reviews and commentaries on the classical music scenes by writers from Singapore.

ZauberdrachenNr.7

I subscribed to Fanfare for many years and greatly enjoyed it, but with a new job my work consumed me and my listening time.  Now retired, I'm hoping I will get an online subscription to it for Christmas this year (includes access to their considerable scanned archive of back issues).  It will be good to be back with an old friend, though I know I will miss many of the old reviewers who have surely gone on to other things or their reward.

Spineur

I occasionally consult the french magazines "Diapason" and Classica, which I feel underwhelming.  They put out so many "diapason d"or and 5*, one has the feeling that they are promotional tools for studios.  Its got to be a 'diapason du siecle" (like Minkowski Oriadante) to raise my attention.  Plus the occasionally pretentious tone that really puts me off.

The best source for me is my sister who is a professionnal musician.


geralmar

#47
I am particularly interested in the early years of the LP and stereo classical recordings.  I find the following sources of free online access to old music/HiFi magazines helpful for old reviews and just browsing:

The Saturday Review (1940s-72)
unz.org

High Fidelity (1954-60)
HiFi Stereo Review (1958-62)
vintagevacuumaudio.com

ludwigii

#48
In past years, I bought and regularly consulted the issues of the magazines :

Musica and Dossier (Italian)
Diapason (French)
Le Monde de la Musique (French)
The Gramophone
BBC Music Magazine
The Classic Voice (Italian)
Amadeus (Italian)
Orfeo (Italian)
CD Classica (Italian)
Compact Disc Classics (Italian)
Musica (Italian)
Repertoire (French)
Classica Repertoire (French)

Then I have accumulated so many that I decided to stop with this drug  ;D

Orfeo was a magazine on Ancient and Baroque music, very interesting :



The old Repertoire was my favorite :

"I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste."
Marcel Duchamp

Wakefield

Quote from: ludwigii on February 02, 2017, 09:48:27 PM
In past years, I bought and regularly consulted the issues of the magazines :

Musica and Dossier (Italian)
Diapason (French)
Le Monde de la Musique (French)
The Gramophone
BBC Music Magazine
The Classic Voice (Italian)
Amadeus (Italian)
Orfeo (Italian)
CD Classica (Italian)
Compact Disc Classics (Italian)
Musica (Italian)
Repertoire (French)
Classica Repertoire (French)

Then I have accumulated so many that I decided to stop with this drug  ;D

Orfeo was a magazine on Ancient and Baroque music, very interesting :



The old Repertoire was my favorite :



I have always loved/hated Amadeus because of its exclusive and hard to find disks.
"One of the greatest misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowards. They complain, keep quiet, dine and forget."
-- Voltaire

JRJoseph

I have been subscribing to many of the magazines mentioned plus lots of internet sites and have just about every piece of music from all the major composers I need including many versions of many of them.  I have reached the point where I am searching for minor classical, romantic, modern and even baroque composers.  When does a love for music become a compulsion.  I truly at least like and quite often love my collection of music but have I gone too far with it?  Making a choice sometimes is difficult as is what to buy next or should I give up my magazine subscriptions as in see nothing want nothing but then again. I might discover some more interesting music.

RebLem

The only mag I subscribe to is Fanfare, and I love it.  If you can't afford it and have a well stocked magazine store near you, you might want to annually get just their November/December issue, in which each of their reviewers list up to five issues from the previous year that they think are the best of the year.  Most of them cheat a bit and write a narrative indentifying the also-rans that they finally cut to get it down to five.  I lso read reviews here and at Classical Music Guide, and @ Amazon.  If you are a regular @ Amazon, you will find a few reviewers that are as good and knowledgeable as any of the pros, and after a while, you will recognize them by their names or monikers.
"Don't drink and drive; you might spill it."--J. Eugene Baker, aka my late father.

Roy Bland


Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Brian

Quote from: Karl Henning on April 11, 2023, 06:06:58 AMMy review of the Mitropoulos box.
Thank you for writing this and providing the link! It was excellent work, very clear and helpful and just enough wit. It gave me a number of hot leads of things I want to listen to (if that disc with JJ Johnson and Miles Davis is not streaming, I may finally purchase the box entire). Some of the recommendations of obscure repertoire like Riegger are so strong, I will even overlook the slander of my friend Grieg.  ;)  ;D

Karl Henning

Quote from: Brian on April 11, 2023, 08:06:30 PMThank you for writing this and providing the link! It was excellent work, very clear and helpful and just enough wit. It gave me a number of hot leads of things I want to listen to (if that disc with JJ Johnson and Miles Davis is not streaming, I may finally purchase the box entire). Some of the recommendations of obscure repertoire like Riegger are so strong, I will even overlook the slander of my friend Grieg.  ;)  ;D
I should have anticipated that I risked the ire of Grieg enthusiasts! Ay, me! Thanks for reading!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Roy Bland