On Feb 10, 6:18 am, "William Sommerwerck" <
grizzledgee...@comcast.net>
wrote:
What you're saying is that everybody has a different idea of who the
experts are. If that's so, then it's really difficult to agree with
the statement, because once you've identified who the "experts" are
(in your opinion, then you've found people whose opinions you trust
enough to follow. That doesn't mean you have to agree with them once
you've heard the recording, but, when deciding what to buy next, you'd
be a fool not to consider to the opinions of people you respect.
The caveat--about preferring to listen to samples or borrow a
recording first--is useless. Except for a couple of obvious,
unimportant criteria, you can't tell anything from excerpts. For
instance--the pianist has bad technique, or the clarinetists has
crappy tone, or the tempo is ridiculously fast or slow: some good
quality excerpts can tell you these things, but such clear-cut
situations are rare, and if they aren't clear cut, you're just as
likely to make a mistake by dismissing something as by buying it. The
other option, borrowing, is usually not easy enough to make it
worthwhile.
Some classical music lovers fall into the trap of blindly following
expert opinion without considering whether they really agree with that
expert. But such people probably are better off listening to expert
opinions than relying on their own unconsidered judgement. So the real
trap, and the only trap, is to ignore your own feelings and
perceptions of the music. I don't see why classical music lovers are
more prone to such boorishness than anyone else.
--Jeff