Criticism

I don't agree very that we should concern ourselves with living critics.
Most critics on work, today, criticizes CDs, not musics.  Performers, not
composers.  New releases, not historical performances.  Singles CDs, not
compared performances.  And most critics just comments few lines on the big
Labels new releases, feeding the American's consumerism instead improving
Art comprehension.  A lot of acoustic aspects and just few conceptual
aspects on performers.  Criticizing is, for most critics, to distribute a
few words between the informations of label, performer, composer, music;
amazing, great, fine, excellent, superb, outstanding, unbelievable, and
other fire-words, are the meaningless material, exhausted vocabulary of the
non-argued river of this adjective-rating criticism.  I think the old ones
have a lot to teach to all of us on "what to talk about' on CM criticism!
I believe we don't find, now adays, writers like Shaw, Adorno, Mann,
Mencken, etc., because that kind of text requires a deep subjective
experience to which there is not "comproovable" by reason, logic or
historical data.  Most would have all conditions to do that, but with the
almost-wild competition between critics, that would turn one too "exposed"
to critics.  It's a self-protective attitude a critic must assume.

On the other hand, there is each time more available material for better
and better essays.  Today is possible we have a very large comprehension
of music, since we can accumulate either the benefits of reading old times
criticism, the availability of information, the historical perspective and
a big market demanding knowledge, comprehension and argued information.
I think readers want more than good or bad words about CDs or performers.

Don Satz, for example, makes a good job writing on Bach-keyboard works on
compared performances.  To many friends of mine I showed his e-mails they
liked a lot.  If he included more comparisons, more historical information
(including other critics opinions) and explained more his perceptions he
would probably be not far from a best selling - if he published them.
That's, in my opinion, what listeners want:  the complete job!

Respectly,
Renato Vinicius