Re: GG: AOF Recordings

[Bradley P Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

On Thu, 18 Apr 1996, Ryan Anderson wrote:

> 	Now.... these are all of the recordings with good reviews... I 
> didn't want to waste my time looking up "bad" recordings... and I don't 
> have the record labels, just the performer and the year (and the review 
> location) 
(...)
> 	Leonhardt, Harpsichord '88
> 	Leonhardt w/ van Asperson, Harpsichords '80

These two are the same.

(...)

> 	There were also other recordings that got bad reviews (according 
> to NOTES) and I just went for the recordings with good reviews.

That's *really* dangerous.  Why trust reviewers?  Some reviewers are way
off base; a lot depends on what they want to hear, with preconceived
judgment about the way they think something should go.  In my opinion,
it's more important to know *why* a particular reviewer didn't like an
album, than simply to dismiss the album as bad.  Consequently, it's best
to look up all the reviews.  (And sometimes the best recordings of all are
never reviewed...again introducing an unfortunate bias against them.)
Also, to be thorough, don't limit yourself to reviews written in
English.... 

The music is more important than any review about it.  (But maybe that
doesn't make much sense anymore in a culture where the significance of an
event or sports contest lives more in the written and oral rehashing than
in the moment itself.)

> 	If there are others you'd like to add to my list, feel free!

I'll compile a list of the ones I have.  Your list seems to be a
reasonable start. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradley Lehman, bpl@umich.edu       http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/  

(So when I said yesterday that I don't like Gould's Art of Fugue record, I
went on to explain in much detail why not.)