Music Lane

It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

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Maybe -- BUT .....

Posted by Amphissa on December 30, 2016 at 15:33:21:
The biases here are not due to advertising revenues or general ass-hatness. HOWEVER, there are biases here nonetheless.
There us a bias towards hi-rez streaming and downloads.
There is a bias towards recordings by pretty women.
There is a bias towards warhorse composers and much-recorded repertoire.
There is a bias towards re-issues (esp., remastered re-issues in hi-rez)
Are these necessarily *bad* biases? Well, no, not really. As long as one is *aware* of the biases (as Chris pointed out), one can take that into consideration. The problem with most of the reviewing publications is that you know they are industry mouthpieces, but you don't know how much label revenue influences specific reviews.
Still, when the glowing reviews of pretty girls with major label contracts show up in the glossy publications and then turn up here, how does one balance out the biases to make purchasing decisions? And if one simply goes along with the recommendations here without being familiar with other recordings of the same repertoire by other current musicians, is one really able to discern whether the recordings are really all that exemplary?
Okay, most people do not want to buy 10 recordings of the same works. And the real issue is not whether there were biases at play or not. The most important issue, for most lurkers and maybe semi-active posters, is "Is this recording one I'll be happy with?" In other words, not absolutes and ultimates, but "satisficing."
In most cases, I'd say that the recordings recommended on AA are good enough.
Personally, I'd like to see more discussion of less-famous composers who turned out some very fine works that have been lost in the tsunami of new recordings of warhorses.
And although I've voiced some criticisms of modernists, I would actually prefer to see more discussion of modern/contemporary composers. Because just as with Romantic era music, some is worthwhile and some is drek.
And that is enough of my opinion on that topic.