Dave Hurwitz reviews - love 'em or hate 'em

[Bryn]

Isn't there a similar discussion to be had regarding the female voice? Is anyone here a lover of wide, uncontrolled vibrato? I know it puts many of my 'non-classical' friends off.

Not a female but:

[gradus]

Isn't there a similar discussion to be had regarding the female voice? Is anyone here a lover of wide, uncontrolled vibrato? I know it puts many of my 'non-classical' friends off.

Very wide vocal vibrato eg late Maria Callas recordings are almost comical as the Vissi D'Arte recording I heard a couple of days ago on R4 showed. Most singers produce some vibrato naturally and when the voice is pressed to breaking point vibrato can and does widen alarmingly for some.

[neiltingley]

Its a matter of taste, but surely not third-rate. To take an example, his argument against vibrato-less playing. From memory he maintains that conductors eg Walter, Klemperer, Walter, Furtwangler, Toscanini, who were contemporaries of revered victorian/edwardian composers and were thus well informed about historic orchestral playing styles did not follow the approach of those who oppose vibrato and claim authenticity? Seems a reasonable point.

He has researched and published on this topic. He knows his onions. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...A30AA6424C8F7E

[gradus]

He has researched and published on this topic. He knows his onions. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...A30AA6424C8F7E

I agree but his brashness puts people off.

[Alison]

A very spiteful mickey take of a Ted Greenfield review on a recent video of Marriner’s Beethoven set. How dare he.

[Petrushka]

Since being a bit rude about him in an earlier post I've been delving more into his videos and actually find much of what he says to agree with and enjoy. The typical American brashness can be a bit of a turn off to us more reserved Brits but he knows what he talks about and has great communicative skills.

He does tend to have a bias towards Bernstein and Ormandy and routinely trashes Rattle, Abbado, Haitink and Solti whenever the opportunity arises (and sometimes when it doesn't) but I can strongly recommend his series on 'Reference Recordings' which mostly coincide with my own guess.

If he wants to rip someone to pieces (eg Currentzis or Makala) he certainly doesn't pull his punches so be warned!

[ARBurton]

His earlier videos are quite different and more restrained. He can be interesting but I find irritating his inability (real or acted) to remember people`s name or pronounce them even vaguely - always coming out with "whatever you want to call them". It comes over as sloppily discourteous. But there`s no doubting the breadth of his experience.

[Philidor]

I think Dave Hurwitz (youtube) is outstanding for his breadth and depth of musical knowledge. He’s therefore particularly useful for identifying more obscure repertoire worth exploring. For example his advocacy of Malcolm Arnold has given me many happy hours exploring these wonderful symphonies. I do think he has his prejudices (eg he’s very anti-Rattle for some reason) and seems utterly clueless about Lieder/art song but I shall certainly “carry on listening”.

[richardfinegold]

I think Dave Hurwitz (youtube) is outstanding for his breadth and depth of musical knowledge. He’s therefore particularly useful for identifying more obscure repertoire worth exploring. For example his advocacy of Malcolm Arnold has given me many happy hours exploring these wonderful symphonies. I do think he has his prejudices (eg he’s very anti-Rattle for some reason) and seems utterly clueless about Lieder/art song but I shall certainly “carry on listening”.

I think his anti KM bias is unhinged. I’m not doing any boosterism for the Chicago Symphony here as I have a healthy dose of skepticism about such a young conductor being spread so thin internationally as the flavor of the year. However the new set of Shostakovich 4/5/6 if judged without all of the bias has plenty to recommend it and DH remarks are ridiculous. And yes his stance on Ormandy vs Solti makes little sense either. Two Hungarian Jews leading high profile American Orchestras for decades and both having strong interpretive profiles. How does one become angelic and the other satanic?
I think it should be realized that he does have a professional background in musicology, but that his need to generate clicks reinforces what is probably a natural tendency to view things in a
manichean manner.

[HighlandDougie]

He might well be the Sir Donald Tovey de nos jours or the Grove Encyclopaedia in human form but his rather flip judgements on performers do him no favours at all. Like Richard, I find his vendetta against poor Klaus Mäkelä to be verging on the unhinged. "Oozes mediocrity" - indeed, it must be so if the Rasputin of You Tube (as I think of him) says so to his legion of camp-following click-baiters. Egregiousness personified in my very unhumble opinion.

[Darkbloom]

I think the point about Hurwitz doing stuff to generate clicks is quite true. He's clearly taking the mickey quite often and I have learned not to take him too seriously when he goes on one of his rants. At the same time he displays a deep knowledge and appreciation of the less-familiar work of composers like Haydn that means you can't dismiss him as simply a garrulous lightweight out to make a name for himself. I'm sure Americans on this board are familiar with Don Rickles, and some of Hurwitz's more scything put-downs surely owe some debt to Mr Warmth.

[ucanseetheend]

A nauseating ***** but he knows that and it helps him get subscribers to his YouTube channel and 2nd rate classical music website .Just don't give him any opportunity to make money .

[ucanseetheend]

I think his anti KM bias is unhinged. I’m not doing any boosterism for the Chicago Symphony here as I have a healthy dose of skepticism about such a young conductor being spread so thin internationally as the flavor of the year. However the new set of Shostakovich 4/5/6 if judged without all of the bias has plenty to recommend it and DH remarks are ridiculous. And yes his stance on Ormandy vs Solti makes little sense either. Two Hungarian Jews leading high profile American Orchestras for decades and both having strong interpretive profiles. How does one become angelic and the other satanic?
I think it should be realized that he does have a professional background in musicology, but that his need to generate clicks reinforces what is probably a natural tendency to view things in a
manichean manner.

Yes and he gets the 6th symphony score out to tell Makela he doesn't know how to interpret whats on paper ..😂.I mean we could go through thousands of recordings of classical music and play that meaningless interpretation of music game.

[oliver sudden]

Yes and he gets the 6th symphony score out to tell Makela he doesn't know how to interpret whats on paper ..😂.I mean we could go through thousands of recordings of classical music and play that meaningless interpretation of music game.

Careful, you’ve got me curious. I’ll be watching the video next…

[Pulcinella]

Careful, you’ve got me curious. I’ll be watching the video next…

Me too, since I recently got a copy of the score myself.
Surely there's nothing wrong in expecting a certain faithfulness to the score, if that's what his contention is?