Reviewing critical practice: An analysis of Gramophone ’s reviews of Beethoven’s piano sonatas,1923

Abstract

The study offers an overview of a large sample of music performance criticism in the British classical music market through the analysis of reviews of Beethoven’s piano sonata recordings (N = 845) published in the magazine Gramophone between 1923 and 2010. Reviews were collected from the Gramophone archive, and descriptive and inferential statistics were used to explore the reviews’ metadata: issue, text length, repertoire, release status, pianists reviewed and critics. There was a large number of recordings (n = 641) and pianists (n = 216) considered during this period, with reviews provided by 52 critics. However, reviews were concentrated around only a small number of authors and performers. The most frequently published critics had long careers and a high level of familiarity with the repertoire and its interpretations. Comparisons between performances were found to be a characterizing trait of critical practice, and the most often reviewed pianists corresponded to those most frequently used for comparisons. Besides new recordings, there were many reviews of re-issues (n = 205), although this pattern decreased in later decades. The findings emphasize the importance of the comparative element for the evaluation of performances and the necessity to account for the peculiar nature of recorded versus live performance to understand the processes behind critical practice. Furthermore, taken together the results suggest that critics have an important role as filters of choice in the music recording market.

Keywords

Beethoven music criticism piano sonatas record industry recording

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alessandri

(2011). Discography or what analysts of recordings do before analyzing. In Emmenegger

Senn

(Eds.), Five perspectives on “Body and Soul” and other contributions to music performance studies (pp. 111–125). Zurich, Switzerland: Chronos Verlag.

Alessandri

Eiholzer

Williamon

(2013). Between producers and consumers: Critics’ role in guiding listeners’ choices. In Williamon

Goebl

(Eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Performance Science 2013. Brussels: Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC).

Aschenbrenner

(1981). Music criticism: Practice and malpractice. In Price

(Ed.), On criticizing music. Five philosophical perspectives. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Baumann

(2001). Intellectualization and art world development: Film in the United States. American Sociological Review, 66, 404–426.

Beardsley

M. C.

(1962). On the generality of critical reason. Journal of Philosophy 59(18), 477–486.

Beardsley

M. C.

(1965). Intrinsic value. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 26(1), 1–17.

Beardsley

M. C.

(1968). The classification of critical reasons. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2(3), 55–63.

Beardsley

M. C.

(1982). The relevance or reasons in art criticism. In Wreen

M. J.

Callen

D. M.

(Eds.), The aesthetic point of view: Selected essays. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Bonzon

(2009). Thick aesthetic concepts. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 67(2), 191–199.

10.

Budd

(1995). Values of art: Pictures, poetry and music. London, UK: Allen Lane.

11.

Budd

(2007). The intersubjective validity of aesthetic judgements. British Journal of Aesthetics, 47(4), 333–371.

12.

Carroll

(2009). On criticism. New York, NY: Routledge.

13.

Cowart

(1981). The origins of modern musical criticism: French and Italian music, 1600–1750. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press.

14.

Dickie

(1987). Beardsley, Sibley and critical principles. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 46(2), 229–237.

15.

Dickie

(2000). Art and value. British Journal of Aesthetics, 40(2), 228–241.

16.

Eliashberg

Shugan

S. M.

(1997). Films critics: Influencers or predictors? Journal of Marketing, 61, 68–78.

17.

Ellis

(1995). Music criticism in nineteenth-century France: La Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, 1834–1880. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

18.

Elste

(1989). Kleines Tonträger Lexikon: von der Walze zur Compact Disc. Kassel, Germany: Bärenreiter.

19.

Elstein

D. Y.

Hurka

(2009). From thick to thin: Two moral reduction plans. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 39(4), 515–536.

20.

Fischer

(1956). Ludwig van Beethovens Klaviersonaten: Ein Begleiter für Studierende und Liebhaber. Wiesbaden, Germany: Insel-Verlag.

21.

Flynn

(1997). A study in music criticism and historiography: Sacred music journals in France, 1848 to 1879. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, Illinois.

22.

Grant

(2010). Metaphor and criticism BSA prize essay 2010. British Journal of Aesthetics, 51(3), 237–257.

23.

Hopkins

(2006). Critical reasoning and critical perception. In Kieran

Lopes

(Eds.), Knowing art: Essays in aesthetics and epistemology (pp. 137–153). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.

24.

Kaiser

(1975). Beethovens 32 Klaviersonaten und ihre Interpreten. Frankfurt, Germany: Fischer Verlag.

25.

Kinney

D. W.

(2009). Internal consistency of performance evaluations as a function of music expertise and excerpt familiarity. Journal of Research in Music Education, 56(4), 322–337.

26.

Levinson

(1987). Evaluating musical performance. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 21(1), 75–88.

27.

Levinson

(2002). Hume’s standard of taste. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 60(3), 227–238.

28.

Levinson

(2004). Intrinsic value and the notion of a life. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 62(4), 319–329.

29.

Levinson

(2009). Aesthetic appreciation. British Journal of Aesthetics, 49(4), 415–425.

30.

Levinson

(2010). Artistic worth and personal taste. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 68(3), 225–233.

31.

McColl

(1996). Music criticism in Vienna, 1896–1897: Critically moving forms. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.

32.

McPherson

Schubert

(2004). Measuring performance enhancement in music. In Williamon

(Ed.), Musical excellence. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

33.

Monelle

(2002). The criticism of musical performance. In Rink

(Ed.), Musical performance: A guide to understanding. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

34.

Morgan

(2010). “A new pleasure”: Listening to National Gramophonic Society records, 1924–1931. Musicae Scientiae, 16(2), 139–164.

35.

Morrow

M. S.

(1997). German music criticism in the late eighteenth century: Aesthetic issues in instrumental music. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

36.

Pollard

(1998). Gramophone: The first 75 years: London, UK: Gramophone Publications.

37.

Regev

(1994). Producing artistic value: The case of rock music. Sociological Quarterly, 35, 85–102.

38.

Reid

(1984). The music monster: A biography of James William Davison, music critic of The Times of London, 1846–78, with excerpts from his critical writings. London, UK: Quartet Books.

39.

Schick

R. D.

(1996). Classical music criticism: With a chapter on reviewing ethnic music. London, UK: Routledge.

40.

Schmutz

Van Venrooij

Janssen

Verboord

(2010). Change and continuity in newspaper coverage of popular music since 1955: Evidence from the United States, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Popular Music and Society, 33(4), 501–515.

41.

Schwartz

(2008). Can there ever be too many flowers blooming? In Tepper

S. J.

Ivey

(Eds.), Engaging art: The next great transformation of America’s cultural life. London, UK: Routledge.

42.

Sibley

(1959). Aesthetic concepts. The Philosophical Review, 68(4), 421–450.

43.

Wallace

(1986). Beethoven’s critics: Aesthetic dilemmas and resolutions during the composer’s lifetime. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Reviewing critical practice: An analysis of Gramophone ’s reviews of Beethoven’s piano sonatas,1923–2010

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References