Mimi Ezust writes:

>>...what do you look for in an excellent review, and who are some of
>>your favorite reviewers(aside from those writing for the MCML?)

Don Satz replies to Mimi

>I suppose my favorite reviewer would be Don Vroon of American Record Guide.
>Although I hardly ever agree with him, I like his no-nonsense approach to
>reviewing, his definitive conclusions, and the clarity of his writing.  ...
>
>The reviewers I least like(names not identified)tend to have an aversion
>to making any definitive statements about the recordings they review.
>It's as if their basic view is, "Recordings are not good or bad, just
>different".  I consider that premise of little use and merely a cop-out on
>the reviewer's part.  I much prefer when a reviewer openly states his/her
>view or bias, then moves on to judge the recording based on those views.

Could anyone explain my experience in browsing through reviews in
magazines, such as Classical CD and Grammaphone, how I hardly ever
see harsh criticism? I know that I have a lot of CD's that I think are
inferior, at least in terms of sound.  I've actually found reviews of
some of those CD's and they've always been positive.  This has made me
very suspicious of critics' (in general) ability to distinguish between
good recordings and bad recordings.  Of course, I realize it's all very
subjective, and possibly I'm way out of whack with my standards.  If you'd
be interested, I'd be could list some recordings that I think are inferior
sounding.  I couldn't name any reviewers at this point, since I don't
usually take much of an interest in reviews, and when I read them, it's
just casual skimmming.

Mike