Page 164 - 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. 164
glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
(N) Great to read your comments, Wolfgang. In brief: I found Tár
fascinating. True, the protagonist is an appalling individual, but –
regardless of the script’s allusions to real-life composers and con-
ductors, #MeToo, and canon discourses – the film is a work of ficti-
on. As such, I’m a little surprised by some of the hostility towards it
(not just from Marin Alsop, but also fellow feminist musicologists).
Example 2: Facebook discussion of the movie Tár
Of course, this is about a movie rather than about a musical perfor-
mance or recording, yet this movie is about music – and the genres of music
and film critique are similar enough to support my point here. While both
examples are unstructured and don’t try to discuss their topic in as exhau-
stive a way as a formal review would, both provide critical insights that pe-
ople who have not been to the recital or seen the movie may find interesting.
The second example discusses the issues it raises in much more detail than
the first one, yet both combine information and entertainment for their re-
aders in ways that many “traditional” reviews might not. In the case of Tár,
I encountered so many social media “reviews” of this kind that I almost
didn’t need to read any formal film review in order to get all the relevant
information. (I still did it as there are some film critics whose views I value,
yet it wouldn’t have been necessary to make me want to watch the movie.)
Conclusion
The three stages of Irish music criticism discussed here cover some 160
years. In their early days, reviews in Irish newspapers could be of very low
quality, often written by journalists without any music-specific knowledge
who treated concerts as social occasions. Until late in the nineteenth cen-
tury, reviews remained unsigned, while statements about the pieces per-
formed and the quality of their renditions were regularly bland and unin-
formed. Some papers used reviews to pursue a nationalist agenda, praising
Irish music as a proxy of Irish culture and nationhood.
Charles Acton’s term as main concert reviewer of the Irish Times
marks a high point of music criticism in Ireland. Reviews were published
more regularly, their quality had improved significantly and Acton’s influ-
ence beyond the pages of his newspaper attests to the regard he was held in
by the Irish musical scene. His approach to reviewing Irish performances
that did not (yet) match those by top international ensembles is an instruc-
tive example of the issues arising in a country that was more at the periph-
164
(N) Great to read your comments, Wolfgang. In brief: I found Tár
fascinating. True, the protagonist is an appalling individual, but –
regardless of the script’s allusions to real-life composers and con-
ductors, #MeToo, and canon discourses – the film is a work of ficti-
on. As such, I’m a little surprised by some of the hostility towards it
(not just from Marin Alsop, but also fellow feminist musicologists).
Example 2: Facebook discussion of the movie Tár
Of course, this is about a movie rather than about a musical perfor-
mance or recording, yet this movie is about music – and the genres of music
and film critique are similar enough to support my point here. While both
examples are unstructured and don’t try to discuss their topic in as exhau-
stive a way as a formal review would, both provide critical insights that pe-
ople who have not been to the recital or seen the movie may find interesting.
The second example discusses the issues it raises in much more detail than
the first one, yet both combine information and entertainment for their re-
aders in ways that many “traditional” reviews might not. In the case of Tár,
I encountered so many social media “reviews” of this kind that I almost
didn’t need to read any formal film review in order to get all the relevant
information. (I still did it as there are some film critics whose views I value,
yet it wouldn’t have been necessary to make me want to watch the movie.)
Conclusion
The three stages of Irish music criticism discussed here cover some 160
years. In their early days, reviews in Irish newspapers could be of very low
quality, often written by journalists without any music-specific knowledge
who treated concerts as social occasions. Until late in the nineteenth cen-
tury, reviews remained unsigned, while statements about the pieces per-
formed and the quality of their renditions were regularly bland and unin-
formed. Some papers used reviews to pursue a nationalist agenda, praising
Irish music as a proxy of Irish culture and nationhood.
Charles Acton’s term as main concert reviewer of the Irish Times
marks a high point of music criticism in Ireland. Reviews were published
more regularly, their quality had improved significantly and Acton’s influ-
ence beyond the pages of his newspaper attests to the regard he was held in
by the Irish musical scene. His approach to reviewing Irish performances
that did not (yet) match those by top international ensembles is an instruc-
tive example of the issues arising in a country that was more at the periph-
164
