Pablo Massa <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>There's, in my opinion, a misunderstanding about the role of critics.
>They are often considered as public "taste builders", and all we suspect
>that they are very far from this whether because of heir intentions or,
>in some cases, because of their intellectual gifts.

This somehow brings to mind that this thread began with an assertion
that we no longer have critics of the stature of G.B. Shaw, or Mencken,
or Adorno.  That may just be, and if it is, then it's surely due to the
fact that the names we're here dealing with were extraordinary.  As critics
(they also engaged in other pursuits) they were critics at large, critics
of culture, of which music formed for them an imporrrtant part.

Narrow days, like ours, aren't hospitable to Renaissaance Men.  Critics
today are expected to stay with their lasts, a music critic with music.
Consequently the best we have working in this field are commentators who
have a broad experience with music and some of them, e.g.  Andrew Porter,
are a pleasure as well as instructive to read.

Denis Fodor