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Hurwitz

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gggg gggg

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Apr 29, 2021, 10:13:33 AM4/29/21
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Do you trust his judgement?

HT

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Apr 29, 2021, 10:26:47 AM4/29/21
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Op donderdag 29 april 2021 om 16:13:33 UTC+2 schreef gggg gggg:
> Do you trust his judgement?

Wrong question. It is not his judgment but how he arrives at it that is interesting.

Henk

Herman

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Apr 29, 2021, 10:31:33 AM4/29/21
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On Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 4:13:33 PM UTC+2, gggg gggg wrote:
> Do you trust his judgement?

you kidding?

Herman

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Apr 29, 2021, 10:35:27 AM4/29/21
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the man does a lot of arm flapping and weird voices, he's like the idiot in the parking lot.

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 10:41:32 AM4/29/21
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I would assume it was through listening? Does he use another method? Divining?

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 11:33:47 AM4/29/21
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Why not give some examples of his pans or raves and why you disagree with him. I would learn a lot more about his reviewing than hearing about his mannerisms, which I find completely inoffensive. He's a character, or portrays one. So what? Why does it bother you?

Richard Sauer

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Apr 29, 2021, 11:52:28 AM4/29/21
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> Why not give some examples of his pans or raves and why you disagree with him. I would learn a lot more about his reviewing than hearing about his mannerisms, which I find completely inoffensive. He's a character, or portrays one. So what? Why does it bother you?

I'm a subscriber to Classics Today. Evidently Herman is disturbed by Dave's youtube channel. I suggest that he stop watching it. That should solve the problem.

Ricardo Jimenez

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Apr 29, 2021, 1:08:21 PM4/29/21
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Just like the lists in RMCR, I find his linear ranking of performances
of the same work or collections of works, quite unconvincing. He is
good for bringing works and composers, unfamiliar to me, to my
attention and onto my Spotify queue. He is also blind to the most
interesting classical music media at present, DVDs and Blu-rays.

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 1:22:32 PM4/29/21
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Blind? Maybe he's just less visually-oriented than you are. Are DVDs and Blu-rays merely your own preference, or are they becoming more significant sales-wise than CDs, in which case Hurwitz will presumably lose listeners if he ignores that market.

Herman

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Apr 29, 2021, 1:43:18 PM4/29/21
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On Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 5:52:28 PM UTC+2, Richard Sauer wrote:
> > Why not give some examples of his pans or raves and why you disagree with him. I would learn a lot more about his reviewing than hearing about his mannerisms, which I find completely inoffensive. He's a character, or portrays one. So what? Why does it bother you?
> I'm a subscriber to Classics Today. Evidently Herman is disturbed by Dave's youtube channel. I suggest that he stop watching it. That should solve the problem.

I don't watch his vids a lot. I have seen three (partly - I can't spend twenty minutes watching this nonsense), one in which he made fun of German names and words, which is kind of weird if you're into classical music, and recently I saw (part of) a puff story about the Jarvi 25 cd box, which seemed to come from another planet, where Jarvi is one of the greats rather than a unspectacular Kapellmeister. One suspects commercial interests when facing this weird distortion.

Herman

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Apr 29, 2021, 1:46:59 PM4/29/21
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And, yes, he'd do much better just writing reviews (except no one reads those). A review takes two or three minutes. These videos are interminable, because Hurwitz spends a lot of time laughing at his own jokes and reiterating phrases for, yeah, for what? Emphasis?

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 1:48:57 PM4/29/21
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Hurwitz has said he doesn't even receive freebies to review.

Re making fun of German names of words. German words are hard for Americans to pronounce. Besides the gutteral, which we don't have, there is a precision that we don't have in American English. It's really not making fun of German, it's making fun of our difficulty in pronouncing it. It's called humor.

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 1:52:19 PM4/29/21
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On 4/29/2021 1:46 PM, Herman wrote:
>
>
> And, yes, he'd do much better just writing reviews (except no one reads those).

It's impossible to know what classicstoday.com's "circulation" (paid and unpaid) is, it's sort of stupid to say no one reads them.




A review takes two or three minutes. These videos are interminable, because Hurwitz spends a lot of time laughing at his own jokes and reiterating phrases for, yeah, for what? Emphasis?
>

You are embarrassing yourself.

Richard Sauer

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Apr 29, 2021, 2:14:02 PM4/29/21
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> Just like the lists in RMCR, I find his linear ranking of performances
> of the same work or collections of works, quite unconvincing. He is
> good for bringing works and composers, unfamiliar to me, to my
> attention and onto my Spotify queue. He is also blind to the most
> interesting classical music media at present, DVDs and Blu-rays.

I agree that Dave Hurwitz is dismissive of Blu-ray audio. I am excited by the possibilities-such as Warner issuing all of their Klemperer on Blu-ray audio. Or DG dumping all their Karajan on that format. However if the people won't buy Blu-ray audio you can't stop 'em. I also would like to see some reviews of audio equipment for the classical listener, but as my father you to tell me "Great idea Rick, all you need now is money."

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 2:18:17 PM4/29/21
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Most of the people who appreciate the music don't care much about the hardware and vice versa. There are exceptions, I suppose.

MiNe109

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Apr 29, 2021, 2:26:17 PM4/29/21
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Aside from storage capacity, the advantage of Blu-Ray is playing
multichannel recordings, so stereo-only listeners can afford to be
dismissive.

Many if not all blu ray players are digital output only, so any review
would be of the rest of the system and of the digital transfer. Cd
quality or even 320 mp3 is enough for most playback in most rooms.

I find Kal Rubinson's Stereophile reviews to be classical-friendly.


Reinhold Gliere

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Apr 29, 2021, 2:33:39 PM4/29/21
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Making all those youtube videos, he's more visually oriented than is any of us. However he's collecting money for them. So perhaps his true interest is making money.

Richard Sauer

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Apr 29, 2021, 2:34:01 PM4/29/21
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That was true of me for years, but I changed. Why shell out the money for a big box set of remastered Szell, Walter etc...and then play the cds on equipment that cannot take advantage of the audio of those recordings?

Herman

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Apr 29, 2021, 2:54:34 PM4/29/21
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On Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 7:48:57 PM UTC+2, Frank Berger wrote:

> It's really not making fun of German, it's making fun of our difficulty in pronouncing it. It's called humor.

we may have different definitions of humor.

When other people laugh at a joke it's humor.

When the 'joker' is the only one laughing, it's not humor.

Ricardo Jimenez

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Apr 29, 2021, 3:32:43 PM4/29/21
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What i meant is that he doesn't review opera DVDs and Blurays.

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 4:46:03 PM4/29/21
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Do you have a job? Do you do it for free? Would you?

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 4:49:25 PM4/29/21
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On 4/29/2021 2:54 PM, Herman wrote:
> On Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 7:48:57 PM UTC+2, Frank Berger wrote:
>
>> It's really not making fun of German, it's making fun of our difficulty in pronouncing it. It's called humor.
>
> we may have different definitions of humor.
>

The term is self-deprecating humor.


> When other people laugh at a joke it's humor.
>
> When the 'joker' is the only one laughing, it's not humor.
>

You keep baselessly generalizing about Hurwitz audience or lack of it. Why project you views on others?

According to Youtube, he has over 7,000 subscribers. How many do you have?

His videos views seem to range from the hundreds to the thousands.

John Fowler

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Apr 29, 2021, 6:13:47 PM4/29/21
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É PEDOFILO ASSASSINO: DAVID HURWITZ (REGISTA CINEMATOGRAFICO DI BRESCIA, INCULA ED AMMAZZA BAMBINI), L'AVVOCATO SATANISTA E KILLER DANIELE MINOTTI ED IL PEDERASTA SEMPRE SBORRATO IN CULO DA RAGAZZINI CHE PAGA ALL'UOPO: GIULIANO FERRARA!
So there!
Message has been deleted

Charles Timbrell

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Apr 29, 2021, 9:00:57 PM4/29/21
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On Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 10:13:33 AM UTC-4, gggg gggg wrote:
> Do you trust his judgement?

I find him almost always at least "interesting." But I can say that he doesn't know how to pronounce Debussy's "Estampes," which he calls "Ay-tomps."

Frank Berger

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Apr 29, 2021, 9:53:54 PM4/29/21
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A consideration before deciding to do a video blog is that you have to know how to pronounce stuff. And where a shirt and comb your hair. etc. Serious considerations.

Neal Grofman

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Apr 29, 2021, 10:07:03 PM4/29/21
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A friend of mine (who contributes here) suggested that I watch Hurwitz some time last year. I didn't. All of knew of him was that I'd read a number of his reviews, both at Classicstoday.com, and sometimes at ArkivMusic. Sante Fe Listener, on Amazon, and other "reviewers" there, were often dismissive of Hurwitz's reviews. Or worse. I still enjoyed reading him. I usually check reviews to help guide my listening or purchases. Sometimes I even come here.

A few months ago I finally watched one of his videos. I was intrigued by the topic, a "best" or "ideal cycle" list, so I watched. He referenced recordings with which I was familiar, and not. I found him to be not particularly attractive and his voice was annoying. He talked too slowly and went on forever and ever. The video quality sucked; he may be the only YouTuber still vlogging in 4 x 3 standard definition. But ... I was entertained. And I learned something. And I like learning about this music that I enjoy so much. It was fun. So I watched another.
And then I was hooked. I have sought out many of the recordings he's discussed. It's cost me a bit of money.

He can still be annoying. I don't always agree with his picks. But I'm a fan. Why? He has boundless enthusiasm. He doesn't take himself, or more importantly, the music too seriously. It's supposed to be fun. Otherwise what's the point? He's also played percussion in orchestras, and his perspective as a musician can be enlightening. Did anybody else catch his charoset recipe?

By the way, he's not the only one laughing. He has an outsize personality. He has a good time. So do I. He's a geek, but so am I. Perhaps the only one in this group.

My wife hates him and can't understand how I can watch him.

Stan Punzel

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Apr 29, 2021, 11:28:20 PM4/29/21
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That has been pretty much my reaction after viewing several of the videos. I know I can by geeky when discussing recordings and performances and I see that in Hurwitz. I don’t agree with everything he likes, but the enthusiasm is there there and that counts with me.
Stan Punzel

Gerard

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Apr 30, 2021, 5:24:58 AM4/30/21
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Op 2021-04-30 om 05:28 schreef Stan Punzel:
Ditto.
The rest of the discussion is repeating earlier discussions.

Chris from Lafayette

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Apr 30, 2021, 3:23:08 PM4/30/21
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On Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 7:07:03 PM UTC-7, Neal Grofman wrote:
> . . . Sante Fe Listener, on Amazon, and other "reviewers" there, were often dismissive of Hurwitz's reviews.

That's funny - because I'm often dismissive of Santa Fe Listener's reviews! ;-)

Al Eisner

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May 1, 2021, 8:14:21 PM5/1/21
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I certainly don't want or need to get into a debate about Hurwitz, but
I should point out that you mischaracterize his view of Järvi - perhaps a
result of only partial viewing. H made clear that J does not excel in
mosgt of the core pre-20th-century repertory, and, indeed, the box
contains very little of it. But H does praise much of what is in the
box, which is as much a reflection of the selection by Chandos (from
J's many recordings for them) as it is of J. Does success in that
repertory make him, in H's view, "one of the greats"?

There are indeed some things H does which I find more than a little
annoying, and some of his diverse categories of videos are more to
my taste than others, but I find him worth checking out (and often
entertaining).

Your last sentence is entirely ad hominem. And, no, I have not been
paid to write any of the above.
--
Al Eisner
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