Dave Hurwitz reviews - love 'em or hate 'em

[Bryn]

Isn't there a similar discussion to be had regarding the female voice? Is anyone here a lover of wide, uncontrolled vibrato? I know it puts many of my 'non-classical' friends off.

Not a female but:

[gradus]

Isn't there a similar discussion to be had regarding the female voice? Is anyone here a lover of wide, uncontrolled vibrato? I know it puts many of my 'non-classical' friends off.

Very wide vocal vibrato eg late Maria Callas recordings are almost comical as the Vissi D'Arte recording I heard a couple of days ago on R4 showed. Most singers produce some vibrato naturally and when the voice is pressed to breaking point vibrato can and does widen alarmingly for some.

[neiltingley]

Its a matter of taste, but surely not third-rate. To take an example, his argument against vibrato-less playing. From memory he maintains that conductors eg Walter, Klemperer, Walter, Furtwangler, Toscanini, who were contemporaries of revered victorian/edwardian composers and were thus well informed about historic orchestral playing styles did not follow the approach of those who oppose vibrato and claim authenticity? Seems a reasonable point.

He has researched and published on this topic. He knows his onions. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...A30AA6424C8F7E

[gradus]

He has researched and published on this topic. He knows his onions. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...A30AA6424C8F7E

I agree but his brashness puts people off.

[Alison]

A very spiteful mickey take of a Ted Greenfield review on a recent video of Marriner’s Beethoven set. How dare he.

[Petrushka]

Since being a bit rude about him in an earlier post I've been delving more into his videos and actually find much of what he says to agree with and enjoy. The typical American brashness can be a bit of a turn off to us more reserved Brits but he knows what he talks about and has great communicative skills.

He does tend to have a bias towards Bernstein and Ormandy and routinely trashes Rattle, Abbado, Haitink and Solti whenever the opportunity arises (and sometimes when it doesn't) but I can strongly recommend his series on 'Reference Recordings' which mostly coincide with my own guess.

If he wants to rip someone to pieces (eg Currentzis or Makala) he certainly doesn't pull his punches so be warned!

[ARBurton]

His earlier videos are quite different and more restrained. He can be interesting but I find irritating his inability (real or acted) to remember people`s name or pronounce them even vaguely - always coming out with "whatever you want to call them". It comes over as sloppily discourteous. But there`s no doubting the breadth of his experience.