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Dr. Wright's "Brahms"
Posted by Jack Kelso on January 25, 2008, 10:42 am
So he thinks Schumann is not a "great composer"? Can't a "Super-Brahmsian" over-rate his/her pet composer in a more musically substantial manner?
Wouldn't George Szell be surprised to know that the composer he considered "the greatest of the purely Romantic composers" was not great?! (The other "purely" romantic composers were Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms).
I don't feel that this type of pop-musicology does Brahms any good at all. His music should speak, not frantic hype that forgets the existence of Handel, J.S. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner and others who don't need to stand in the shadow of Dr. Wright's opinions.
Jack Kelso
Re: Dr. Wright's "Brahms"
Posted by chris howell on January 26, 2008, 7:37 am, in reply to "Dr. Wright's "Brahms"" 213.215.159.61
Life is too short to waste it by getting het up about the way-out opinions, unsupported by any reasonable argument, in this and other articles by Wright, let alone by trying to correct them and the dubious grammar with which they are expressed. Better just not read them. Chris Howell
Re: Dr. Wright's "Brahms"
Posted by chris howell on January 27, 2008, 5:22 pm, in reply to "Dr. Wright's "Brahms"" 213.215.159.46
I already tried to post a message to this effect yesterday but it doesn't seem to have arrived.
Wright's articles are a mélange of unsubstantiated claims, showstopping lines and poor English and the best thing is just not to read them
Which leads to the next question - why keep them ? Whatever Chris and I might think, they are surprisingly influential, and much copied, especially in terms of style. For some people they define internet writing. And lots of people don't know enough to spot the mistakes. Not long ago there was a rash of ill informed material in the press on an obscure composer. I checked google to see what the source was. Guess what ?...... But I don't think there's much point taking them down as they make us think about what constitutes good or bad writing. There are those who think these are a model to emulate, just as there are those who see them as a model of what not to do. So keeping them on is a good reminder.
That's exactly the problem, Anne. They are influential. A lot of young beginning listeners who might read this stuff are apt to avoid Schumann because of Dr. Wright's rants. The great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter's (and many other's!) favorite composer was Schumann. Is that opinion also worthy of dissemination?
Curious---that lovers of the music of Handel, J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, even Wagner---don't find it necessary to belittle Schumann as do the "Super-Brahmsians" like Dr. Wright. One for the psychologists!
Jack
Re: Dr. Wright's "Brahms"
Posted by Martin Walker on January 29, 2008, 12:11 pm, in reply to "Re: Dr. Wright's "Brahms"" 87.160.232.212
I have been considering for a long time whether to protest about some of the misleading and badly written material published under the name of Dr.Wright on this site. What stopped me actually writing was the suspicion that nobody (except the usual bad journalists, ignorant of almost everything relating to music, hunting for apparent authorities in the archives/on the net) will have taken all that much notice. When I was younger (in the 50s) and had never actually heard any Bruckner or Mahler I read two large and ancient books about The Symphony in the public library: one said Mahler was a derivative pygmy compared with Bruckner's majesty, the other that Bruckner was a dreary incompetent compared with Mahler's imaginative variety. This did not stop me listening to either composer - on the contrary, I was eager to find out whether they appealed to me. Schumann is so omnipresent nowadays that it is difficult to believe a young beginner could be affected in the way described by Jack (the same is true of Britten, whose music can look after itself). However, it do think it is likely that after reading his dismissive review of Dallapiccola on Opera many will simply not bother to seek that rather obscure book out; it has been one of the best and most inspiring collections of musical writings I have ever come across and I am awaiting with bated breath the promised sequel. I cannot imagine what led Dr.Wright to compose such a gallimaufry of untruths and non-sequiturs, for it is clear to me that Dallapiccola is both a great composer and a great writer.
