Critics’ Choice 2019

[doversoul1]

Andrew McGregor is joined in the studio by Natasha Loges, Katy Hamilton and Kate Molleson to discuss which new releases they have most enjoyed this year. They champion music ranging from Chausson and Britten to Cassandra Miller and Gesualdo.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cbbw

Is the BBC trying to make up for something or is Andrew McGregor considered sufficient to represent Men?

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, I have known some women in the past who've appreciated my tastes in music!

[Master Jacques]

The sex of the panellists is neither here nor there, for me; except in so far as it is proving an issue for poor Kate Molleson. Already this morning she has (1) dissed one of her colleagues' choices (rather sternly) on the grounds that the CD's cover font was too feminine and pink and that the disc was entitled 'Her Voice'; and (2) another on the grounds that Gesualdo was a "cweepy man". Is this Radio 3, or a Radio 1 phone in?

Never mind the music, feel the gender. Personally I rather think Record Review might try employing a critic with fewer penny-in-slot agendas, because (to quote Shakespeare and speaking for myself) "none of us cares for Kate"!

[Beresford]

The sex of the panellists is neither here nor there, for me; except in so far as it is proving an issue for poor Kate Molleson. Already this morning she has (1) dissed one of her colleagues' choices (rather sternly) on the grounds that the CD's cover font was too feminine and pink and that the disc was entitled 'Her Voice'; and (2) another on the grounds that Gesualdo was a "cweepy man". Is this Radio 3, or a Radio 1 phone in?

Never mind the music, feel the gender. Personally I rather think Record Review might try employing a critic with fewer penny-in-slot agendas, because (to quote Shakespeare and speaking for myself) "none of us cares for Kate"!

I think it is quite in order for a reviewer to remark on a naff CD cover. And Gesualdo's weird character comes up in the programme notes of almost every performance of his weird music, with good reason, so she is not alone in that.

I like Kate Molleson's style - she has definite views which I agree with half the time, and she was brave enough to start her selections with music quite hard to approach, for many listeners. I don't like the way she slurs words together, but that is part of her accent.
Are you sure Shakespeare wasn't pre-referencing Katie Derham? Now she doesn't slur her words - but.......

[Master Jacques]

I think it is quite in order for a reviewer to remark on a naff CD cover. And Gesualdo's weird character comes up in the programme notes of almost every performance of his weird music, with good reason, so she is not alone in that...

Well she ought to rise above such tabloid identification of music with character. We're all weird, are we not?

As for taking issue with the CD cover, evidently the presenter agreed with me on that point - his put-down of Molleson was surprisingly clear and rapid. I know we live in a visual world where looks are everything and sound is nothing, but on the whole it's still better for would-be music critics to talk about the music rather than get first-line huffy about the packaging.

(It's actually rather a good cover and title, I think, which draws attention to itself in a post-modern, ironic way - by having the female members of the trio sitting in parodistic manner of Victorian poses - which irony seemed to go over Ms M's head. Here's a link to allow forumites to judge for themselves ...)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Voice-Neave-Chandos-20139/dp/B07WFJ9HWL

[doversoul1]

I bet if this had been an all male pannel, there would have been a storm of protest.

[visualnickmos]

(It's actually rather a good cover and title, I think, which draws attention to itself in a post-modern, ironic way - by having the female members of the trio sitting in parodistic manner of Victorian poses - which irony seemed to go over Ms M's head. Here's a link to allow forumites to judge for themselves ...)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Voice-N.../dp/B07WFJ9HWL

It's OK - backstory and all !
About par for the course - the only CD cover designs which are IMVHO, faultless - excellent design, imagery, graphics, typography, are those produced by ECM.
All others are 'O' level mock exams....

[Master Jacques]

It's OK - backstory and all !
About par for the course - the only CD cover designs which are IMVHO, faultless - excellent design, imagery, graphics, typography, are those produced by ECM.
All others are 'O' level mock exams....

ECM do very well indeed, very true. Though I still yearn for anything to hit the general level of Supraphon's LP covers, c. 1970. (Their CD covers are above average, but you could have framed a lot of those LP covers and put them on your wall!)

[visualnickmos]

ECM do very well indeed, very true. Though I still yearn for anything to hit the general level of Supraphon's LP covers, c. 1970. (Their CD covers are above average, but you could have framed a lot of those LP covers and put them on your wall!)

Indeed, they were fantastic examples of graphic design, which has for decades been a strong-point of the former Czechoslovakia; look at posters, postage stamps and so on, dating right back to the 1920s and 1930s and up to the present.

[jayne lee wilson]

It's OK - backstory and all !
About par for the course - the only CD cover designs which are IMVHO, faultless - excellent design, imagery, graphics, typography, are those produced by ECM.
All others are 'O' level mock exams....

BIS, CPO, Ondine.... all these often do the art well, loads of examples........ECM often very good (loved the "Quasi Morendo"), but not infallible.... try searching for "Now, and Then.."
Great music but the cover............ how very dull... And they can take their "abstract inexpressionism" a shade too far.... (flick through a few Kanchelis)....or the Berio "Voci"? Unsure... they often fall back on a House Style, a formula......(see "Gesualdo")....

Seattle Symphony Media have been consistently inventive....

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&biw=1416&bih=812&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNT_bnCPRWyBW-YRSJ9FBkp28MinNg%3A1576509027411&sa=1&ei=Y573XbfgGLqHjLsPjZ-vmAU&q=seattle+symphony++cd+morlot&oq=seattle+symphony++cd+morlot&gs_l=img.3...11112.13120..13525...0.0..1.81.514.9......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......35i39.g7H0hmsoZLs&ved=0ahUKEwj3ncHkubrmAhW6A2MBHY3PC1MQ4dUDCAY&uact=5

Didn't hear the review comments, but I find nothing offensive about the Her Voice cover...

If you wanna take it this way, you would probably see the women in control (playing the game, rather bored, even a shade sarcastic), the man a little weak and uncertain of his role, his facial expression an unconvincing projection of control or pomposity...(even to himself) ....

[Serial_Apologist]

"abstract inexpressionism"

[Master Jacques]

Indeed, they were fantastic examples of graphic design, which has for decades been a strong-point of the former Czechoslovakia; look at posters, postage stamps and so on, dating right back to the 1920s and 1930s and up to the present.

Covering Brno a year or two back for the Janacek Festival, I was delighted to find the local art shops filled with gorgeous original abstracts redolent of those Supraphon covers, very reasonably priced indeed - and I came back with a suitcase full of the things!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Admin: I've altered the Thread title, as the original "next week" is now "last week"

[Beresford]

(It's actually rather a good cover and title, I think, which draws attention to itself in a post-modern, ironic way - by having the female members of the trio sitting in parodistic manner of Victorian poses - which irony seemed to go over Ms M's head. Here's a link to allow forumites to judge for themselves ...)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Voice-N.../dp/B07WFJ9HWL

Thanks for the link. I agree that the CD cover is quite good - not naff (although the dress colours should have been swapped). But if it had been naff, I think a quick mention by the reviewer would have been ok.

[Beresford]

Indeed, they were fantastic examples of graphic design, which has for decades been a strong-point of the former Czechoslovakia; look at posters, postage stamps and so on, dating right back to the 1920s and 1930s and up to the present.

Yes. In the Russian supression of the Prague Spring the only free communications - for a time - were the city notice boards, which had many brilliant cartoons depicting exactly what the Czechs thought of the invaders.