David Hurwitz

[Brian]

I'm with you. The degree of rage and loathing which Mr. H stirs up is a mystery to me.

As far as I'm concerned, he's like every other critic: sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don't. That's about all.

At least the most recent few pages of this thread have been more varied and interesting than usual. Many of them are simply people repeating "I like him" and "I don't like him" over and over again as if we are conducting an opinion poll.

[Karl Henning]

I'm with you. The degree of rage and loathing which Mr. H stirs up is a mystery to me.

No kidding: he just ain't worf it.

[DavidW]

Agreed. Now, how can they do that if they have no expertise (a) in the respective art form specifically, (b) in the broader culture generally, and (c) in writing reviews?

Well no I mean you can have the required knowledge but not be a good communicator or even have anything insightful to say.  I'm saying that it doesn't suffice to have that knowledge.  I'm not saying that it isn't necessary (which is how you read my post).

[Karl Henning]

Well no I mean you can have the required knowledge but not be a good communicator or even have anything insightful to say.

I'd surmise, Hurwitz having done so many videos at this point, that even a Hurwitz fan would find that there are videos he's done which fail to justify their time span. It's bad enough when a composer does that ....

[SimonNZ]

There's a great cartoon of someone demanding to fly a plane because they don't think the pilots have any greater ability than they do. As a commentary on the general trend to resent experts.

This one?:

[Madiel]

Yep.

[ritter]

The interesting discussion on buying vs. streaming has been moved to a new topic.

[ando]

I like his "industry" commentary best but can only be thankful that we have his contributions. He seems to be having a ball doing it. There are certainly no shortage of classical music cranks but who wants to watch them? And is there a serious YouTube alternative?

"What I can tell you is the way NOT to increase the market for classical music is to diminish the value of what you are trying to sell to point where you can't even give it away anymore." 

yulp.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I like his "industry" commentary best but can only be thankful that we have his contributions. He seems to be having a ball doing it. There are certainly no shortage of classical music cranks but who wants to watch them? And is there a serious YouTube alternative?

"What I can tell you is the way NOT to increase the market for classical music is to diminish the value of what you are trying to sell to point where you can't even give it away anymore." 

yulp.

I remember a story which a friend shared with me.  As I recall, she was a *lawyer-in-training at the time working at a law firm (*so to speak).  She told me that she had to save up a week's salary in order to buy a Wagner opera at the time.

PD

[Irons]

I remember a story which a friend shared with me.  As I recall, she was a *lawyer-in-training at the time working at a law firm (*so to speak).  She told me that she had to save up a week's salary in order to buy a Wagner opera at the time.

PD

I wager your friend enjoyed the music all the more then if she merely pressed a button and heard the opera at little cost.

[david johnson]

I haven't changed my mind from the comment I made when this all began.  He's brilliant, when he agrees with me.

[71 dB]

DH made a video about CPE Bach's Symphonies Wq. 182 on Glossa. I listened to it on Spotify and yes, it is good. Compared to the Naxos I have the sound is darker (less mid-range).

I remember a story which a friend shared with me.  As I recall, she was a *lawyer-in-training at the time working at a law firm (*so to speak).  She told me that she had to save up a week's salary in order to buy a Wagner opera at the time.

PD

As people probably know we have conscription in Finland for obvious reasons. Thanks to it Finland can put up more troops than France and Germany combined! I did my military service about 30 years ago. We were paid small daily allowance. Since I didn't smoke, I didn't need to buy cigarettes like many others did and I saved the daily allowances. Every month I was able to save about 180 mk (30 euros) which was enough to buy one normal priced CD album (120 mk) and one CD single (50 mk). I did spend the money on CDs when I was on vacation (weekend breaks) from the army. This was a few years before I discovered classical music. The music I bought was electronic dance music, releases such as Autechre's Anti EP and The Prodigy's Music for the Jilted Generation.

[steve ridgway]

"What I can tell you is the way NOT to increase the market for classical music is to diminish the value of what you are trying to sell to point where you can't even give it away anymore." 

I hadn't listened to any of those videos before but that was great. I feel so sorry for all those poor owners of The Non-Essential Toscanini .

[Mookalafalas]

  When Hurwitz first started coming up a couple of years ago, I couldn't imagine who'd listen to him. However, I've recently become a fan. I like his enthusiasm, and he is making me want to play certain music that I wouldn't otherwise have. That's the main reason I come to this site, too. I've only watched a couple hours of his stuff, and I fast-forward a lot. But scrolling for the "good stuff" is what I do at GMG, too, so maybe not so different. However, while browsing this site, I can listen to music, which I can't with with DH. That's unfortunate.

[DavidW]

However, while browsing this site, I can listen to music, which I can't with with DH. That's unfortunate.

You can always subscribe to Classics Today and read his reviews!

[Karl Henning]

and I fast-forward a lot....

I can see that.

[ando]

I had forgotten about this interview with Hurwitz about his own development. Good one.

[LKB]

By now I've seen enough of Hurwitz to have developed a guarded respect for him. He is certainly passionate about music, and is fairly consistent in explaining the reasons for his positive or negative responses to various recordings.

It seems to me that his one big weakness is a tendency to make blanket statements about this or that composer, which are not always accurate. ( l imagine everyone here has probably done this or something similar at some point, but l think it safe to say that none of us here are making videos critiquing various recordings, or presenting ourselves on YouTube as reference authorities in the field. )

When he's right, he's quite the valuable resource. But one should have alternate sources of critical expertise available for the times when he is wrong.

[Karl Henning]

It seems to me that his one big weakness is a tendency to make blanket statements about this or that composer, which are not always accurate. ( l imagine everyone here has probably done this or something similar at some point, but l think it safe to say that none of us here are making videos critiquing various recordings, or presenting ourselves on YouTube as reference authorities in the field. )

Exactly. It's a weakness which pairs abysmally well with the blowhard's "This is my opinion, and it's important because it's mine."

[Mookalafalas]

 

Exactly. It's a weakness which pairs abysmally well with the blowhard's "This is my opinion, and it's important because it's mine."

But don't we all feel that way? We would be jerks to blurt them out too much here, but he's on his own website. If he was a lecturing educator, it would be innappropriate, but he, positions himself as an un-filtered, old-school, keeper-of-the-faith who spontaneously blurts out his opinions. He's a weird combination of jester and old-testament prophet on a jeremiad. And for all that, he's not rigidly close-minded towards what he dislikes. He will often modify or even change his positions.