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In Reply to: Hatto is important- the irony a powerful message posted by Bambi B on March 3, 2007 at 09:36:51:
"I certainly would have been suspicious" means what? With the writing of a single sentence you are suggesting essentially that "mistakes were made" across the entire population of gushing critics that YOU quite possibly would have avoided (if being a professional critic was what you were positioning yourself as being) -- and I can easily agree with you. If I were a professional critic, I would make it my duty to dig into the details of an artist before making judgement the same way I apply "due diligence" to what I ACTUALLY get paid to do day-to-day. In fact, I would do so DOUBLY with an unknown such as Hatto who was suddenly attracting the spotlight. 99% of the critics that chimed in did so by faith (no, this is not a real statistic!:-).So, I'm not sure I get to quite the same conclusion that you do based upon the same information. I've read some of the "defences" that discuss the idea that "no one can know it all, hear it all etc.", but THAT'S not the point: Hatto was a comet, and it's surprising that more attention wasn't cast upon the phenomenon sooner by the folks that paid to do so. Also, and this is not intended as a comment about your post, I can easily see folks that are in the business of "fast and loose facts" come to the defence of critics. One must protect one's own, eh?;-)
Follow Ups:
SE,When I wrote "I certainly would have been suspicious", I AM suggesting mistakes were made in the critical world. I had a radio programme on Los Angeles FM for six years epecifically devoted to classical keyboard and I was responsible for content and commentary, making me a demi-critic. If any pianist released over 100 CD's in two or three years and everyone was praising them to the heavens- I know I would have questioned the phenomenon- just as you say you would. When Lang Lang became an overnight sensation, I certainly looked behind that hollow shell.
And while the critical community seems proto-idiotic in not realising what was going on, it is also difficult to recognise every pianist by their playing style- could you separate Ashkenazy from Perhia, Schiff from Hewitt, Arrau from Backhaus? One element of this fraud that's interesting is that it may have succeeded because it was unprecedented in scale- so large and blatant, no one thought to question the most fundamental aspect- who was really playing- everyone took B-C at his word and focussed on the details of the playing.
It seems like the bigger the lie, the easier it is to propogate. So, I understand this kind of critical slip happening- for awhile. But, not for as long as occurred. I agree with you, ",..it's surprising that more attention wasn't cast upon the phenomenon sooner".
I'm not sure I understand who you mean who are "in the business of fast and loose facts", unless you mean Fox News, because critics should be- and often are- as careful as any journalist in striving for accuracy. No one questions success like critics. The Hatto incident is a call to renew that striving in the critical world.
Cheers,
No one in particular, but everyone in general that presents information with certitude that hasn't done their basic research -- and I believe, to your last point, that it happens a great deal (more now than ever), and that it should point towards "renewed striving" for accuracy, accountability and just plain honesty in the guidance provided by those "paid to guide". There was a time when critics critized based upon research and comparison. Much of that is now gone, and the professional critics -- as often as not -- tend to act as either cheerleaders for a recording industry in dire straits (essentially criticizing NOTHING), or as defenders of a past heritage that, however worthy, allows no newcomers. There must be something in between if there is to be a future for "serious" music. In other words, critics are supposed to have STANDARDS for their judgement and behavior. In terms of this, I believe the Hatto incident points sqarely at structural deficiencies in the profession itself. I am more concerned by this than by the actual acts of that incident by the perpetrators.
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