Personally I like the criticism offerred at amazon.com - books, cds (pop or
classical or whatever).  I suppose these can be called cd reviews, but in
the main, I find them quite informative and usually highlight that which is
worthy of highlighting.  The customer reviews are a good indication of what
others 'like us' think about the music - although perhaps it is one-sided:
generally those who like the cd only ever review it:P

As for the critic who works for the local newspaper - who generally
reviews only concerts performed by WASO (West Australian Symphony
Orchestra) and soloists with that orchestra (hey, we got Howard Shelley
playing Rachmaninov last Saturday!), the criticism sometimes leave
something to be desired.  For the first, his criticism, as you said, is
of the playing and not the work.  This is of course the problem with all
critics nowadays because generally they are not presented with new works -
occasionally this critic is and he does comment on the actual composition
(I remember a criticism of a performance of Elgar's last symphony that
was filled out by a British composer whose name I forget - and another of
Elgar's works, Bach arranged he mentioned that he thought that it was not
apt for Bach to be transcribed for a full orchestra, and on having listened
to the same performance, I agree with him).  In any case, I am sure that
this critic about whom I talk, about whom few people will have any idea,
would *adore* criticising new works on a regular basis, it's just that the
new works composed are never performed but are recorded and stagnate on
shelves.  Moreover, he would certainly be audacious in criticising a work
that has been part of the standard-repetoire for the past century or so
wouldn't you think? Thus what is there left for him to comment on but for
the performance of the work, a comparision (definitely unfair) with his
cds, recordings, of Karajan and Bernstein etc etc.  Quite simply, this
fellow does not even have the opportunity of reviewing classical cds.
That is to be blamed on the newspaper of which I speak, a specifically
high-circulation newspaper aimed at nothing but entertainment.  The
Australian Financial Review has a better classical cd review section.
Quite admirable really, but it only comes out once a month!

-MAR Knezevic
http://mpeg3c.org