International Record Review

[LeMartinPecheur]

You do need to be disappointed occasionally - to hear the mediocre sometimes - to know the worth of the better or the best...

Really bad performances can still teach you something about the work, as witness a truly terrible university-orch performance of Elgar 1. Suddenly I understood why critics of the time (1970s) frequently moaned that his structures sometimes creaked: all the transitional passages, seamless under great conductors like Boult, simply sat down and died so that the movement did indeed become 'sectional' as claimed.

Didn't make me think E a lesser composer - just increased my appreciation of better performances!

[Thropplenoggin]

A similar incident happened years ago on a Radio 3 lunchtime concert by the Durch bass-baritobne robert Holl with Rioger Vignoles in a Schumann song-cycle. In the first few songs his voice was croaky and unfocussed and a car-crash performance was in the making. But gradually he got his act together and by the finishing post the audience was cheering for an encore.

BBM-itis strikes again!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Really bad performances can still teach you something about the work, as witness a truly terrible university-orch performance of Elgar 1.

I dread to think what our university orchestra would have made of Elgar 1. A difficult work even for the best amateurs to bring off.

[pastoralguy]

You do need to be disappointed occasionally - to hear the mediocre sometimes - to know the worth of the better or the best...

I quite agree! I occasionally buy recently released discs in my local Oxfam shop and one can hear why the disc was donated to charity. And, yes, one can learn from a 'bad' performance.

[amateur51]

BBM-itis strikes again!

Too bl**dy true - my apologies and I shall make amends

[Ferretfancy]

I quite agree! I occasionally buy recently released discs in my local Oxfam shop and one can hear why the disc was donated to charity. And, yes, one can learn from a 'bad' performance.

A recent Oxfam experience for me was a recent purchase of a Harnoncourt disc, live performances of a couple of Schumann symphonies with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe -very dull. Still, you can always take them back as a donation later!

[Don Petter]

I have been a strong supporter of IRR since its inception, but there is one contributor whose reviews I find increasingly difficult to read. (No names, no pack drill, as they say, but there might be a hyphen lurking somewhere.)

Out of idle curiosity, I ran a Fog Index on a couple of relevant paragraphs from the latest issue. Interestingly, the results were values of 21 and 24!

[The Gunning Fog Index is an approximate measure of readability, based on sentence and word lengths. Texts for a wide audience are considered to need an index of 12 or less, while 'Even the most academic of texts rarely record scores higher than 18'.]

No wonder I found it hard going!

[Parry1912]

I have been a strong supporter of IRR since its inception, but there is one contributor whose reviews I find increasingly difficult to read. (No names, no pack drill, as they say, but there might be a hyphen lurking somewhere.)

That narrows it down to two. I can't say that I have a problem with either.

My Bugbear is the contributor who liberally sprinkles his reviews with timings. Pretty pointless unless I have the CD. If I did, I wouldn't need the review.

[Thropplenoggin]

The most ludicrous review of recent issues was the one in which Haydn piano sonatas played on a fortepiano was given to someone who confessed mid-review that they didn't like Haydn piano sonatas played on a fortepiano (or perhaps it was just that they didn't like fortepianos).

To quote our resident legal eagle's favourite phrase, the Latin equivalent of which escapes me for the moment:

[Don Petter]

The most ludicrous review of recent issues was the one in which Haydn piano sonatas played on a fortepiano was given to someone who confessed mid-review that they didn't like Haydn piano sonatas played on a fortepiano (or perhaps it was just that they didn't like fortepianos).

To quote our resident legal eagle's favourite phrase, the Latin equivalent of which escapes me for the moment:

Forte mal di stomaco?

[visualnickmos]

Forte mal di stomaco?

[richardfinegold]

The most ludicrous review of recent issues was the one in which Haydn piano sonatas played on a fortepiano was given to someone who confessed mid-review that they didn't like Haydn piano sonatas played on a fortepiano (or perhaps it was just that they didn't like fortepianos).

To quote our resident legal eagle's favourite phrase, the Latin equivalent of which escapes me for the moment:

I love reading reviews, in IRR and elsewhere, of discs that have been specifically aimed a market for multichannel enthusiasts (usually older recordings released in Blu Ray or SACD), and the reviewer specifically says that he does not have a multichannel system.

[Barbirollians]

I am less bothered by timings than reviewers who cannot cope with performances they could not countenance themselves despite their evident inferiority as executants.

[Sir Velo]

My Bugbear is the contributor who liberally sprinkles his reviews with timings. Pretty pointless unless I have the CD. If I did, I wouldn't need the review.

I know what you mean but I enjoy the opportunity for comparing notes on performances; often reviewers are too vague when it comes to illustrative moments in performances. Having timings enables one to pinpoint the exact passage referred to and see if one agrees with the review. If one does, then one can often safely take that reviewers' critique on those discs one hasn't heard. Where one disagrees, one knows not to bother with that critic again.

[Parry1912]

So sad to hear about Calum MacDonald's recent passing. One of my favourite writers.