Page 159 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 159
music criticism in ireland
a strictly online format. It’s a trend endemic to the entire print industry,
not just music publications.
Freeman particularly bemoans the “loss of in-depth, feature articles.”46
Today very few of us are not active on at least one social media platform.
My own filter bubble within this space consists largely of people with a sig-
nificant interest in music, so it is not uncommon that I encounter dialogues
such as the following (in which the contributors have been anonymised). It
engages with a piano recital that took place in early March 2023 in Cam-
bridge, UK. There were altogether 30 comments on the original post; I have
left some of them out here, while some typos remain unchanged.
(A) Yesterday was Chopin’s birthday, so I spent half an evening listening
to a young international star murdering Chopin. The choice in the in-
terval was either to leave, or to have a glass of wine first.
(B) Yes, it was painful.
(A) second half any better?
(B) (A) no
(C) Who? There’s a pretty big choice out there. Szymon Nehring
and Rafał Blechacz are pretty OK though.
(D) Where was this?
(D) And what was this player doing with the Chopin?
(A) (D) Well let’s say destroying the line, the pulse, and the
balance for the sake of theatrical effects which wore off af-
ter 5 minutes
(A) It was in Cambridge
(D) (A) I understand that. Thank you. I wish I could play
better. but then I’m not young, nor an international star. Per-
haps you will play us some Chopin.
(A) (D) I am not a pianist, I just can’t keep my critical opini-
ons to myself
(D) (A) you must play an instrument, surely.
(E) “perhaps the most ‘complete’ pianist of his age”
(A) (E) him!
(F) Perhaps this choice is brilliantly described in Chopin’s music.
(G) very few people now play Chopin well: too loud, too fast and
virtuosic. The harsh, percussive modern instruments don’t help
either.
(H) So − leave, or leave buzzed?
46 Freeman, “Online Integrity: Music Criticism 2.0.”
159
a strictly online format. It’s a trend endemic to the entire print industry,
not just music publications.
Freeman particularly bemoans the “loss of in-depth, feature articles.”46
Today very few of us are not active on at least one social media platform.
My own filter bubble within this space consists largely of people with a sig-
nificant interest in music, so it is not uncommon that I encounter dialogues
such as the following (in which the contributors have been anonymised). It
engages with a piano recital that took place in early March 2023 in Cam-
bridge, UK. There were altogether 30 comments on the original post; I have
left some of them out here, while some typos remain unchanged.
(A) Yesterday was Chopin’s birthday, so I spent half an evening listening
to a young international star murdering Chopin. The choice in the in-
terval was either to leave, or to have a glass of wine first.
(B) Yes, it was painful.
(A) second half any better?
(B) (A) no
(C) Who? There’s a pretty big choice out there. Szymon Nehring
and Rafał Blechacz are pretty OK though.
(D) Where was this?
(D) And what was this player doing with the Chopin?
(A) (D) Well let’s say destroying the line, the pulse, and the
balance for the sake of theatrical effects which wore off af-
ter 5 minutes
(A) It was in Cambridge
(D) (A) I understand that. Thank you. I wish I could play
better. but then I’m not young, nor an international star. Per-
haps you will play us some Chopin.
(A) (D) I am not a pianist, I just can’t keep my critical opini-
ons to myself
(D) (A) you must play an instrument, surely.
(E) “perhaps the most ‘complete’ pianist of his age”
(A) (E) him!
(F) Perhaps this choice is brilliantly described in Chopin’s music.
(G) very few people now play Chopin well: too loud, too fast and
virtuosic. The harsh, percussive modern instruments don’t help
either.
(H) So − leave, or leave buzzed?
46 Freeman, “Online Integrity: Music Criticism 2.0.”
159
