The Validity of Suggestions

[Great Gable]

You could talk about tempo, rounded vs. sharp contours, repeats, sound type and quality, and a host of other significant features.

Rounded contours? Eh?

[karlhenning]

Also true, but boy am I glad you like the Vivaldi.......
So no fight about that huh?

Of course not.  In an appalling but purely hypothetical parallel universe in which there are only 10 Vivaldi recordings, I knew that your heart would be broken.  We all rejoice with you, Harry, that such is not the actual case  0:)

[MN Dave]

You could talk about tempo, rounded vs. sharp contours, repeats, sound type and quality, and a host of other significant features.

You'd need comparison experience for a lot of that, Don.

[George]

You see the bickering as a problem; I see it as expected and natural.

As for your trying to do something constructive about it, I applaud your intent.  However, I don't think the results will amount to much.

Sad but true. 

However, many folks have contributed here, without one fight. 

[Great Gable]

Sad but true. 

However, many folks have contributed here, without one fight. 

What did you call me?

[George]

Yes, the moderation could be a little more assertive IMO. Not that I'd want to regulate free speech, but I do smell some trolls about.

I suggest ignoring them.

[George]

What did you call me?

A follower. 

[Great Gable]

A follower. 

(Sharp intake of breath) You bitch!

[Don]

Hey, it's not even that people tend to dislike Vivaldi - it's far worse than that. They think he's bland! Errkh!

I don't really dislike Vivaldi's music, but I do find it very bland.  Of course, my opinion is nothing but subjective.  I well recognize the man's huge reputation and that many consider him a master.

[karlhenning]

Who doesn't like Vivaldi?! Let me at 'em!!!  

I loves 'im, especially interspersed with Piazzolla:

[Harry]

One of the things I'd like to do more of on my return to GMG after a few months' 'sabbatical' is write longer posts based on comparative listening to several recordings of favourite works in my collection. This won't make my opinions any more valid, but it will at least show I've invested some time and focused listening before sharing my thoughts on any given work. Todd does this from time to time, and I greatly admire his approach. It makes for informative and sometimes entertaining reading, and also helps to provide a measure of counterbalance to the many 'short review' type posts which are bound to litter a discussion board of this kind.

So short and concise reviews are worthless, allthough someone has listen a dozen times.
For the record, I post mostly after five or six times, and even than I wait longer before I post.
So longer post are not necessarily more informed as short ones.

[MN Dave]

I suggest ignoring them.

Well, yeah, I suggest that all the time. But you still end up reading the negative crap they spew all over the place.

[Mark]

So short and concise reviews are worthless, allthough someone has listen a dozen times.
For the record, I post mostly after five or six times, and even than I wait longer before I post.
So longer post are not necessarily more informed as short ones.

Whoa! Easy there, Harry. Wasn't talking about anyone in particular, my friend.

[George]

Not much of a review is it? Succinct though - which is laudable.

When someone asks me my opinion, they can't expect more than what I can give them. This hold true for how much or how little I can give.

It upsets me to hear that people are refraining form sharing because of the opinions of others. 

[Josquin des Prez]

I also think just because you own a lot of recordings of a work, it doesn't necessarily make you an expert.

Unless they are experts who collect a lot of recordings to make informed comparisons. There's such a thing you know?

From my part, i usually try to weight up the individual before i even consider his opinion. I don't do this consciously, it just happens. I tend to categorize members here by a subconscious hierarchal process where everything about their general intelligence, the way they post, even their personal magnetism earns them a particular 'rank', which ends up playing a role on how far i can trust them. After a bit of practice i can usually make swift assessments about new individuals with a certain degree of accuracy.

After that comes the process of testing their actual knowledge. This is when it gets tricky because when it comes to recordings, the 'best' one is always the first you listen to. So when you buy something new, you have to suffer through an incubation period where you can 'dislodge' yourself from the older recording and engage in the new one afresh. This can take a while but if you really trust the person you try to stick through it. Often times i wasn't able to 'see' what made a certain recording better then the other for a long while, but something in the way the original opinion was expressed gave me a feeling that perhaps there was something there which they knew that i just wasn't able to grasp.

Mind you, i have no concrete method to determine all this isn't just a figment of my imagination, it's all instinctive. This means that doubt is always bound to creep up and nothing is ever sure, but i get by.

I also apply this process to performers and even composers. Sometimes all i have to do is look at the artist in question to get a certain 'vibe' from him.

And then of course comes listening, lot's and lot's of listening.

BTW, this has a way of backfiring every now and then. For instance, i consider both Karl and Luke to be two of the most brilliant posters of this forum, but i generally don't hold their opinion as high as i esteem their contribution because of the noncommittal attitude of the first while the latter is a bit too unassertive.

[Harry]

I'm sorry to say I agree with this. Too many times people are getting away with some appalling behaviour.

Agreed....

[George]

Well, yeah, I suggest that all the time. But you still end up reading the negative crap they spew all over the place.

Sure, but if all ignore them (and to me, that includes just folks in a bad mood) then what you have is one disgruntled user, rather than two/three/twenty people fighting/bickering.

[Mark]

It upsets me to hear that people are refraining form sharing because of the opinions of others. 

Me also. If I want only a single member's opinion, I'll PM him or her.

[Great Gable]

If nothing else this thread must win the "hot topic of the day" award. It certainly has evoked some interest.

[George]

Me also. If I want only a single member's opinion, I'll PM him or her.

Good idea. It works with our married members too.