David Hurwitz

[Florestan]

in GMG where there are people who would own more copies of a work than Hurwitz does.

 

[Madiel]

Plus, there is a high probability that Hurwitz, as a professional reviewer of high profile, received many of those copies for free.

Yes. I half-thought of adding that point but didn't, thanks for mentioning it.

[DavidW]

Ok, only 51 million YouTube channels that I take no interest in.

Sometimes I'm shocked by how incredibly deep and wide YT content is.  There are millions of uploads every day.  Last night when I was looking up reviews for a movie I just watched I accidentally stumbled upon a corner that I've never seen before.

[71 dB]

A much more impressive YouTube commentator on classical music:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ClassicalNerd

Thanks for the suggestion! I watched the 80 minutes Elgar video. 

[Madiel]

But the difference is that Steve is highly unlikely to pan a book without considering what the author's motivations were.

I don't really get how there's an equivalent when reviewing music performances, not compositions.

EDIT: And if this has anything to do with HIP, I will start showing you all of the places where this is as inaccurate as your memory of Herreweghe reviews.

[Florestan]

I think that, if each and every GMG member vowed not to make one single purchase anymore until they will have listened to all recordings they own and have not listened to yet, the sales of classical music recordings would plummet catastrophically and not rise again for a few long years. 

[Karl Henning]

I think that, if each and every GMG member vowed not to make one single purchase anymore until they will have listened to all recordings they own and have not listened to yet, the sales of classical music recordings would plummet catastrophically and not rise again for a few long years. 

This is quite possible.

[DavidW]

I think that, if each and every GMG member vowed not to make one single purchase anymore until they will have listened to all recordings they own and have not listened to yet, the sales of classical music recordings would plummet catastrophically and not rise again for a few long years. 

lol so not true.  I don't even buy a recording unless I streamed it several times and know that I love it.  The days of collecting and hoarding recordings should be well and done for most of us.

[DavidW]

The book review discussion has been moved to the diner.  Link here

[MishaK]

I think that, if each and every GMG member vowed not to make one single purchase anymore until they will have listened to all recordings they own and have not listened to yet, the sales of classical music recordings would plummet catastrophically and not rise again for a few long years. 

I have actually listened to almost everything I bought for myself. I do have a stash of things I haven't gotten to yet, which were given to me by my sister in law when she moved to streaming only and got rid of her CD collection. But it's stuff that I probably wouldn't have bought myself.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I have actually listened to almost everything I bought for myself. I do have a stash of things I haven't gotten to yet, which were given to me by my sister in law when she moved to streaming only and got rid of her CD collection. But it's stuff that I probably wouldn't have bought myself.

Congrats!  Well done!

What kind of music did your sister give you?

PD

[MishaK]

What kind of music did your sister give you?

Sister-in-law! Some Philipp Glass that I don't much care for, some Mahler that I already had, complete box sets of Argerich and Rachmaninov, random odds and ends. I gave a bunch away to friends that was duplicative of what I had already.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Plus, there is a high probability that Hurwitz, as a professional reviewer of high profile, received many of those copies for free.

Either that, or as a (cough) "professional critic," he gets to write off any CD purchases he makes as business expenses, to feed his endlessly gluttonous need to acquire more and more recordings. Unlike we peons who must fund all our own purchases. Perhaps someone should "ask Dave" about this; I wouldn't expect an answer.

[lunar22]

lol so not true.  I don't even buy a recording unless I streamed it several times and know that I love it.  The days of collecting and hoarding recordings should be well and done for most of us.

exactly. I occasionally still buy something on spec in a shop if it's on sale or something but normally I first listen to music and only after its being unusually good will buy a CD. My biggest problem these days is finding anything new I want to buy so money goes more on things like buying software to help me write my own music.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Oftentimes at stores which carry used CDs or LPs, you can sample them and get a sense of whether or not you might enjoy them.  I've found this to be very helpful.  That and am oftentimes able to sample new or older recordings online on places like youtube or on various record labels' websites, etc.

PD

[Madiel]

Either that, or as a (cough) "professional critic," he gets to write off any CD purchases he makes as business expenses, to feed his endlessly gluttonous need to acquire more and more recordings. Unlike we peons who must fund all our own purchases. Perhaps someone should "ask Dave" about this; I wouldn't expect an answer.

Wait, now you're trying to deny that he's actually a professional who's been doing this for years as his job? Long before he was on YouTube? Despite this thread not only being full of references to the Classics Today site, but how he was a review writer for Amazon?

Honestly, now you're just being a jerk for the sake of it. There's a line between legitimate criticism of Hurwitz and open hatred, and you're crossing it. You don't have to like a thing about how he goes about his work (and I can give you my personal list of several things I don't like about it), but trying to create alternative facts about his career is another matter entirely.

Perhaps you'd like to edit his Wikipedia page to remove all the details of his published writings and suggest he's a (cough) "blogger".

Professional critics get given things that other people have to pay for as discretionary personal spending. Theatre tickets. Restaurant meals. Professional writers get paid for writing. That's what professional means. Maybe if you'd got your first book on classical music published over 30 years ago, people would be giving you stuff too.

[DavidW]

This thread is temporarily locked.

Let us all kindly remember that we come together to discuss our shared interests, not to get angry over our differences.  We have enough of that in our real life.

[DavidW]

We have decided to unlock the thread.

[DavidW]

I personally think that critics should seek out every recording.  How can you speak with authority about what a great recording is of a symphony or a sonata if you haven't listened to everything you could get your hands on? 

So I'm more than fine with Hurwitz and other critics having enormous collections.

[AnotherSpin]

I personally think that critics should seek out every recording.  How can you speak with authority about what a great recording is of a symphony or a sonata if you haven't listened to everything you could get your hands on? 

So I'm more than fine with Hurwitz and other critics having enormous collections.

Recognising greatness does not necessarily imply comparison. Not to mention that comparison can be distracting and misleading.