|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
208.114.69.36
Lang Lang seems like a party crasher in this company, and no, Ivan Moravec didn't make the cut. As one might expect, it has a strong Brit bias. Too glaring omissions come immediately to mind, George Szell and Isaac Stern.
Follow Ups:
In the end, you've got the *opinions* of critics, the *opinions* of the less knowledgeable public at large, and the *opinion* of other subsets. It is all opinions and votes.
Von Karajan? Bang Bang? Didonato?
So much for voter opinions.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
in their opinion, from readers and those who visited their website, etc., they published those who made an impact on the recording industry, not who is a great artist necessarily.
Or am I mistaken?
Yes, it was primarily a hall of fame with members nominated primarily for their recorded legacies, and I doubt Lang Lang has actually recorded very many more than a dozen or so CDs. So how'd he get in?
Edits: 04/13/12
I posted the comment because the responses you got
the people posters felt should be on the list for the individual's excellence or fame, or something, but the list seems to be those who have left a "recording legacy."Last time I checked, Stern left a lot and Szell did as well, and depending on taste and preferences, they were both great artists.
Why Lang Lang? Dunno.
Edits: 04/13/12
You forgot to mention the utter cluelessness and speed-for-speed's sake approach he takes to everything he plays. The man is a self-parody whose popularity is an insult to the many real artists currently active at the keyboard.
Lang Lang gave a worthy performance of Liszt Concerto #1 with the San Francisco Symphony under Tilson Thomas, which was broadcast on TV recently. It was the first performance of his I've seen where musical values were in the driver's seat and narcissism was minimal. Maybe it wasn't the best Liszt #1 ever, but it was played with panache and respect for the music, and with little or no facial mugging.
I'm glad to hear the man's making musical progress. I saw a TV broadcast from Carnegie Hall (from about two years ago) where he made a complete hash of the Mendelssohn PC 1, to the point of taking different (much faster) tempi than the orchestra in all three movements. Not good. And the crowd loved it.
"Maybe it wasn't the best Liszt #1 ever, but it was played with panache and respect for the music, and with little or no facial mugging."
I'll take human eccentricities over robotic sterility everytime.
Glenn Gould had his quirks but they came for the keyboard sound and tolerated the other stuff. Some Jazzers had a huff over Erroll Garner's utterances but turned out in droves to hear him play just the same.
Over the years.. going back to the 80's Grammaphone has always had a British bias. They review Brit artists, and praise them more than non Brit artists.
Same as Penguin Guide. Brits get an free extra star just for being Brits...
Thus I never would bother with either one's recommendations.
nt
Where one actually gets sets of good recommendations.
nt
I wouldn't dismiss their recommendations out of hand. They're right more often than not. On the other hand, I certainly don't trust their equipment reviews to any great extent.
One of their best writers, John Steane, recently passed away and will be greatly missed by vocal music fans.
Moreover, they call it an "initial list," and look forward to fleshing it out with input from voters.
Brit bias, I didn't say necessarily British born, did I? 15, either British or who had careers primarily centered in the UK including the 3 producers and record company executives.Barbirolli, Beecham, Gardiner, Klemperer (who spent his last 25 and most productive years in the recording studio while living in the UK), Rattle, DiDonato (an American who became a star in Britain), Baker, Schwarzkopf (a German, but who became a star in Britain after marrying Legge), Sutherland (see Schwarzkopf, except for being Australian and not marrying Legge), Brain, Du Pre, Menuhin (American born, but recorded exclusively for EMI; the school he founded is in the UK, and he died a UK citizen), Culshaw, Legge, and Perry.
Of these, ten were English born if that's what you want, not six. BTW, I am not complaining at all, and tend to have a UK bias myself.
Edits: 04/12/12
Good points. Moreover, Gramophone has consistently shown a British bias over the years in many ways, and you and I are not the only ones to notice. However, I've never thought of that as a major criticism of the magazine, which is after all British produced with a mainly British readership, even though it now has an "American" edition. Or did -- I really don't keep track of such things any more.
The classical music magazines are dying out, and I doubt we'll have any of them to kick around much longer.
The most outrageous omission for me is Marilyn Horne.
even if they had put my personal fav Yuja Wang in there I would object. A hall of fame is for folks who have had a full career. There should not be any 30 and under folks in any hall of fame except for maybe a little league hall of fame or gymnastics hall of fame.
and Joyce Didonato strikes me as odd. But Brian is right. Lists like this are pointless.
But I like some of his orchestral recordings, too, esp. his Mozart symphonies.
As I've commented here before, I really like his Figaro and Don Giovanni, but not his Cosi. I have quite a few recordings including those that come highly, highly recommended here and elsewhere and I'd get rid of all of them before Gardiner's. They're just fun to listen to. I also like his Mozart symphonies, his Beethoven, not so much. I'm listening to Harnoncourt in those these days.
Sibelius, just about every professional musician who has actually ever worked with/for Gardiner agrees with you. He is certainly a "musician's conductor." IMO, he has done great service to the music world.
. . . but he's not even the greatest choral conductor IMHO - much less deserving of one of fifty top spots as one of the top artists of 110 years of recorded music.
Opinions are like . . . , oh, never mind. I have never heard anything to complain about in his recordings of choral works. Many of them are considered benchmarks (by many people).
Alas - that is indeed unfortunate! ;-)
That magazine needs to get back to its core mission: apprising its readership of what new babe-musician recordings are coming out! (Preferably with full, multi-page interviews and "pictorials"!)
Edits: 04/12/12
Such lists are worse than useless. They serve to polarize those who know something about music and performing, and mislead those who don't.
I see no point here.
I'll avoid the rush and list my usual suspects in just three categories: conductors, instrumentalists, and singers. None will be a surprise to just about anyone on this board:
Conductors: E. Kleiber, Klemperer, Walter, Furtwaengler, Toscanini ("The Five General Music Directors of Europe")
Instrumentalists: Schnabel, Hoffmann, Rachmaninoff, Richter, Horowitz;
Heifetz, Oistrakh, Huberman, Szigeti, Kreisler; Casals, duPre, Fournier; Primrose; Brain, Tabuteau
Singers: Caruso, Gigli, diStefano, Melchior, Fischer-Dieskau, Hotter, Schorr; Flagstad, Callas, Forrester, Berganza, Schwarzkopf
And about one hundred others.
Reading the list made me think about which musicians are most important in my listening. Not much overlap with hall-of-fame lists like grammophone's list.
Szell is at the top of the list. Beyond that one name, it is a question of favorite performances of music that I listen to often. A few that come to mind:
Mackerras (Mozart symphonies, Dvorak)
Gardiner (all those Mozart concerti with Bilson and some symphonies)
Vegh (Mozart!)
Monteux
Kondrashin
Reiner
Derek Solomans
Adam Fischer
Toscanini (in spite of the sound)
Fleisher (Beethoven and Brahms concerti)
Brendel
Bilson
de Larrocha
Rubinstein
Malcuzynski
Walter Klien
Heifetz
Grumiaux (Mozart and Beethoven concerti)
Julia Fischer
Fournier
Wispelwey
John Williams
Julian Bream
This doesn't scratch the surface of course.
"Such lists are worse than useless. They serve to polarize those who know something about music and performing, and mislead those who don't."
So damn true and "golden" conductors, musicians and performances didn't cease to exist after the nineteen sixties.
Very true, Brian. I like physical halls of fame that are interesting, educational and fun to visit, but a simple list of names? No.
And in addition to the pro-Brit bias, how about the anti-French bias? No French names other than Boulez? As great a composer as he is (at least IMO, I know that's a controversial statement), would you rank him as a conductor that far ahead of Pierre Monteux?
You rightly mention instrumentalists Pierre Fournier and Marcel Tabuteau. Jean-Pierre Rampal might belong in the list, too, and the Belgian Arthur Grumiaux. And you certainly could have mentioned some French singers like Crespin and Souzay.
I guess we need to read the list in Diapason to get some balance. ;)
Well, it't more than a list. Each name is a link to more information on each artist.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: