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July 17, 2005

Critics - Pick A Role

In the city in which I live, we have two daily newspapers, and each has a music critic. The critics' jobs consist of writing reviews, weekly previews, and, when it's something big, news reports about local music institutions. Neither critic ever acknowledges in print that the other exists. Neither appears to regard criticism as any kind of dialogue with others or with the art form itself.

Most American cities have only one newspaper. Most have only one music critic. Opinions are launched, usually left hanging, and are rarely challenged in print. The tone of these stories is often curiously detached, and even seismic shifts in the arts world get only a story or two before everybody moves on.

As Norman Lebrecht has pointed out, the British press is much more of a gaggle of competing opinions, and it's not unusual to see one critic take on another in print. Indeed, some of the best culture sections seem to go out of their way to argue with themselves in print. It's also not unsual to see a paper print rebuttals from other critics or artists who feel they have been unfairly attacked.

We seem to take as a given that a healthy society needs vigorous debate. American political coverage is full of raucous, passionate opinion. Sports too. So where is that debate in culture? In music?

So I guess I'm wondering if it's a fair characterization that critics in the UK see their role as being part of a conversation while American critics see themselves more as opinion dispensers?

Posted by mclennan at July 17, 2005 08:04 AM

COMMENTS

These are some questions that I have long wanted to ask of critics:
1- is your judgement important and if so to whom? What role does it play in the performance, self-reflection or self-knowledge of the artist? What role does it play in the knowledge or understanding of the public? And what impact does it have on future ticket sales (assuming there is a future for a particular concert) or touring sales? Do you think about these matters when writing a review? Should you?
2- Can music critics engage in a dialogue with the public and the musical world which can enflame passion for music if there is less and less access to music education with a resultant decline in music "literacy"? What considerations, if any, do you make for the decline in music literacy among your readership? Does this make any difference to you?

Posted by: Barbara Scales at July 18, 2005 07:55 AM

Douglas, I would like to point out that Washington, D.C. has more than one prime critic covering musical events. While Tim Page may be the authorial critical voice of the august Washington Post, the Washington, D.C. region, for over the past two years, has also had Charles T. Downey's (and Jens F. Laurson's) expert criticism and reporting on "Music, Art, and Literature from Washington" at ionarts.com, an internationally- respected and tightly focused web-blog on Washington, D.C. cultural affairs. Mssrs Downey and Laurson cover virtually all of the important musical events in the Washington region, and they are often able to offer more in-depth reporting than does the Washington Post due to lesser space constraints.

Also, Downey and Laurson -- one a distinguished local PhD. musicologist, and the other a recorded- classical music industry
expert with experience both in Germany and the U.S. -- are willing to be more critical than Mr. Page, at the Washington Post, is usually willing to be. Mr. Page's close association with the American orchestra industry, through his past association with the Saint Louis Symphony as an artistic advisor, has often made him pull his critical punches in his coverage of, for example, the National Symphony Orchestra. While Mr. Page has become increasingly critical of the leadership of the NSO, many of Washington's intelligentsia abandonned the Post years ago, in musical matters, due to its under-criticism of leading local musical organizations.

Posted by: Garth Trinkl at July 18, 2005 08:00 AM



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