Re the great Magda Olivero: I am so sorry not to speak Italian and to be able to translate this properly, but it needed to be said: I was disappointed by the obituary in todays New York Times, which struck me as misleading and dismissive. No matter that Olivero was targeted and misunderstood by a coterie of tone deaf critics, it was unfair of the writer to repeatedly suggest that her value as an artist was only as good as her fan base, and that those in the know (her critics) never took her seriously, because by her own admission she did not have a beautiful voice. In fairness, he was careful to say, about midway through the article, that she worked hard to master a comprehensive technique. But in the very next paragraph he once again marginalizes her as some kind of cult figure, as if that were more important than the nuance and musical intelligence that informed everything she sang. Thus, the obituary was balanced in favor of declaiming her popularity as the measure of her worth, to the exclusion of her consummate artistic integrity. Having been a widely published critic for a number of major publications for nearly 20 years ( (Opera News, American Record Guide, St Petersburg Times, Clavier, etc) I can assure you that the overwhelming majority of critics to this day are home town amateurs and fakes, with all the musical knowledge and experience of a vacuum cleaner, and worse, liars. Just take the case of the late Alexander J. Morin of ARG , who demanded that the critics, including me, who he had invited to contribute to his book, Classical Music: The Essential Listeners Companion (Backbeat Books) simply make up a review if the critic had not heard the recording in question Appalled by such duplicity, I withdrew from the project and urged the other critics to do the same; they did not,,leading one to wonder just how much of that book is an honest, or even real assessment of .the recordings it professes to evaluate. For Morin, meeting a deadline was more important. Journalistic corruption of that sort rears its ugly head more than you know. In the Olivero obit, the Times writer cites Harold C. Schoenberg, a crude writer who the papers editors propped up for years as an authority - on nothing!. Schoenberg complained, in his review of Oliveros Met debut, that there were too many holes in her voice, and other irrelevant nonsense. Well, at least Harold Schoenberg is dead too - thank God for small favors -- and insofar as it is unlikely anyone will remember him in a hundred years, perhaps it doesnt matter. Rest assured, the music world, provided it still exists then, will most certainly remember - and celebrate - Magda Olivero. As for now, what irks me is the overall climate of indifference proffered by the New York Times that, in my view, is as inaccurate as it is disrespectful. t...
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 23:52:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015