David Hurwitz

[Mookalafalas]

No. Why would you allow anyone to drive you nuts? I find him spot on (and entertaining) most of the time,

  I agree, for the most part. Actually, I just watched him do an attack video where he really went after Jordi Savall's romantic repertoire, and said, in so many words, "He has no place doing this material," and said it was god-awful. That's the first time I've completely disagreed with him.

[71 dB]

David Hurwitz has very strong opinions, but he doesn't expect/demand other people share them. All he wants people to do is to "keep listening." One thing people overlook I think is that disagreements aren't always bad. I can respect an opinion different from my own opinion if I know the opinion comes from a place of knowledge and understanding. In the case of David Hurwitz they tend to be that way. He is not running his mouth on things he doesn't know anything about. He has listened to classical music much much more than I have and he knows about it much much more than I do. That's why it is wise for me to listen to what he has to say and possibly learn something new. In the end of the day I don't have to agree with him about everything, because these opinions are so subjective in nature. His life and journey into exploring classical music has been completely different from my life and journey. It would be strange if he had 100 % same opinion with me.

This sounds like I was a David Hurwitz apologist, but this is really about tolerating opinions of other people based on how informed they are rather than how similar they are to yours. 

[71 dB]

Very unfairly, I had always discounted NAXOS as a bargain-basement label.

In the beginning, say for the first 5 years up to early 90s, Naxos was kind of a bargain-basement label, but it developed fast into a quality label with bargain-basement label pricing made possible by the business success (large average amount of copies sold of releases). However, the amount of copies sold has shrunk since and Naxos isn't anymore priced as a bargain-basement label, unfortunately. The price advantage has been lost, but on the other hand the overall quality is quite high.

[Mookalafalas]

In the beginning, say for the first 5 years up to early 90s, Naxos was kind of a bargain-basement label, but it developed fast into a quality label with bargain-basement label pricing made possible by the business success (large average amount of copies sold of releases). However, the amount of copies sold has shrunk since and Naxos isn't anymore priced as a bargain-basement label, unfortunately. The price advantage has been lost, but on the other hand the overall quality is quite high.

  Yes, they recently bought another whole label. I didn't see that coming.

  Anyway, back to Hurwitz. I think this is a perfect example of why he is valuable. This is a nice, reasonable review of the Berglund box, with good points and good info. It's in Dave's typical "rough and ready" style, but I can't imagine anyone finding anything objectionable here. {well, I supposed GMG folk will readily prove me wrong }
https://youtu.be/wbr32waHrS8?si=4Zi1d5fW9OwDy5nU

[DavidW]

It's in Dave's typical "rough and ready" style,

More like youtube style, his written content is far more polished for obvious reasons.  VLOGs are expected to be more spontaneous or at least feel that way.

[Brian]

Yes, they recently bought another whole label. I didn't see that coming.

Not the first time! Naxos also owns Ondine, Capriccio, Oehms Classics, and a couple others. 

I'm definitely going to listen to DH's Berglund review today while cleaning the bathroom.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Not the first time! Naxos also owns Ondine, Capriccio, Oehms Classics, and a couple others. 

I'm definitely going to listen to DH's Berglund review today while cleaning the bathroom.

Clever idea!  Getting two things done at once!

[DavidW]

I'm definitely going to listen to DH's Berglund review today while cleaning the bathroom.

Nothing else matches a Hurwitz review quite like cleaning the toilet!

[Karl Henning]

well, I supposed GMG folk will readily prove me wrong.

No no, I'm rough and ready enough to allow Hurwitz the possibility of being occasionally unobjectionable. We're not barbarians, here.

[Karl Henning]

Nothing else matches a Hurwitz review quite like cleaning the toilet!

Wholistic (* chortle *)

[(poco) Sforzando]

Nothing else matches a Hurwitz review quite like cleaning the toilet!

Garbage in, garbage out, you might say.

But I have also found nothing is so good for a nap than listening to a Hurwitz review. Whenever I feel a need for an afternoon snooze, I put on one of his longer ones and I'm out like a light five minutes in.

[LKB]

No no, I'm rough and ready enough to allow Hurwitz the possibility of being occasionally unobjectionable. We're not barbarians, here.

To put it another way, using one of my favorite couplets:

Accidents happen. 

[Herman]

David Hurwitz has very strong opinions, but he doesn't expect/demand other people share them. All he wants people to do is to "keep listening." 

Unfoprtunately I disagree. His opinions are often expressed with intimidating vehemence of ridicule. Keep in mind that many people approach classical music with feeling of insecurity.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Unfoprtunately I disagree. His opinions are often expressed with intimidating vehemence of ridicule. Keep in mind that many people approach classical music with feeling of insecurity.

Herman is exactly right. Hurwitz's biggest flaw is his intolerance of disagreement. There are no true "discussions" on his forum because one can never tell how many dissenting comments have been deleted. At times he'll devote an entire video to ridiculing someone who disagrees with him.

A more secure person would welcome opposing viewpoints, but disagree with Dave and you're on the outs. Example: he was reviewing Levit's recent Mendelssohn disc inspired by the October 7 attacks, but Hurwitz has decided that politics has nothing to do with music (which is of course nonsense), and that if anyone were to make a political point in the comments, they would be banned from his site. He's attacked me a number of times, which is why I no longer participate on his forum.

[Karl Henning]

Herman is exactly right. Hurwitz's biggest flaw is his intolerance of disagreement. There are no true "discussions" on his forum because one can never tell how many dissenting comments have been deleted. At times he'll devote an entire video to ridiculing someone who disagrees with him.

A more secure person would welcome opposing viewpoints, but disagree with Dave and you're on the outs. Example: he was reviewing Levit's recent Mendelssohn disc inspired by the October 7 attacks, but Hurwitz has decided that politics has nothing to do with music (which is of course nonsense), and that if anyone were to make a political point in the comments, they would be banned from his site. He's attacked me a number of times, which is why I no longer participate on his forum.

Dave "Snowflake" Hurwitz.

[Daverz]

Herman is exactly right. Hurwitz's biggest flaw is his intolerance of disagreement. There are no true "discussions" on his forum because one can never tell how many dissenting comments have been deleted. At times he'll devote an entire video to ridiculing someone who disagrees with him.

A more secure person would welcome opposing viewpoints, but disagree with Dave and you're on the outs. Example: he was reviewing Levit's recent Mendelssohn disc inspired by the October 7 attacks, but Hurwitz has decided that politics has nothing to do with music (which is of course nonsense), and that if anyone were to make a political point in the comments, they would be banned from his site. He's attacked me a number of times, which is why I no longer participate on his forum.

I agree that Hurwitz is intolerant of dissent in his comment section (he banned me years ago), but this is a stupid example.  There would be no benefit to anyone in allowing political comments on Israel/Palestine under a music CD review.  It would just turn into a cesspool very quickly. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

I agree that Hurwitz is intolerant of dissent in his comment section (he banned me years ago), but this is a stupid example.  There would be no benefit to anyone in allowing political comments on Israel/Palestine under a music CD review.  It would just turn into a cesspool very quickly. 

It was what came to mind as an example of his intolerance of dissent. No reason to throw people off the forum just for bringing it up, and apparently Levit's reason for producing the disc was the war.

And that was a really good nap . . . .

[Herman]

Herman is exactly right. Hurwitz's biggest flaw is his intolerance of disagreement. There are no true "discussions" on his forum because one can never tell how many dissenting comments have been deleted. At times he'll devote an entire video to ridiculing someone who disagrees with him.

A more secure person would welcome opposing viewpoints, but disagree with Dave and you're on the outs. Example: he was reviewing Levit's recent Mendelssohn disc inspired by the October 7 attacks, but Hurwitz has decided that politics has nothing to do with music (which is of course nonsense), and that if anyone were to make a political point in the comments, they would be banned from his site. He's attacked me a number of times, which is why I no longer participate on his forum.

I wasn't even aware of these things, the deletions and bans. I don't read the comment section to his videos much, since they tend to consist of the usual adulatory and / or emotional tributes that are usual on youtube. I guess he wants it this way. This guy is even sicker than I thought.
what I meant with vehemence etc is the tone of his videos; the screaming anger at musicians who do not do it his way. This is why I rarely watch his stuff.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I wasn't even aware of these things, the deletions and bans. I don't read the comment section to his videos much, since they tend to consist of the usual adulatory and / or emotional tributes that are usual on youtube. I guess he wants it this way. This guy is even sicker than I thought.
what I meant with vehemence etc is the tone of his videos; the screaming anger at musicians who do not do it his way. This is why I rarely watch his stuff.

Agreed. There was a scathing review of Klaus Mäkelä's Sibelius cycle, but when one listens to the recordings one finds that Mäkelä's versions hardly have the faults Hurwitz ascribes to them. My main problem is Mäkelä is the difficulty in finding those Finnish diacritics to spell his last name. Recently there was a video on 10 underperformed symphonic works (several of which BTW I have encountered in live performance myself). But because conductors supposedly do not perform some of the music Hurwitz wants them to, these conductors are "lazy," only programming the tried and true. Of course much of the point about live performance is moot anyway, since most of us get most of our music from recordings and a concert attended by maybe a few thousand people in a city most of us can't get to hardly matters at all. But that doesn't prevent Hurwitz from waxing apoplectic about these "lazy" conductors.

[71 dB]

Unfortunately I disagree.

There is nothing unfortunate about it. I don't care if you disagree. You shouldn't care either. Nothing in your or my life hinges on this. I have learned to care about only things that matter: The size of my electricity bill etc.

I have zero reasons to defend David Hurwitz. I have let people here know what I think about him, but certainly won't debate it. IT DOESN'T MATTER!!