Last August in the post entitled “May I Present……….” I promised to report every review “good or bad”. Well, here’s one that is quite different from the others in several respects.
The American Record Guide has reviewed recordings since 1935. It is published bimonthly and claims to offer “500 reviews every issue written by a freelance staff of over 80 writers”. In presenting itself it strikes a bold, jaunty, in-your-face posture….. “no stuffy British sentences (what, I wonder, is a British sentence?) or academic circumlocutions. If you resent hype and jargon you will like our writing”. For what kind of readership is this magazine targeted?
One of the writers is George Adams. I cannot find too much information about him other than he is working on a music PhD (no specifics), that he is a composer (no further detail) and “plays most string instruments (even guitar) sic and keyboards”. (An impressive range of skills).
After quoting from the cover of the CD – not the sleeve notes – he delivers his opinion. For those of a weak disposition, stop reading now……… “I don’t find the music particularly compelling, partly because it doesn’t sound “non-prescriptive” at all. The novelty of indeterminacy doesn’t save the more straight forward sections from their rather unexceptional material and substance”.
That’s it really. Ammunition exhausted. Unlike the other reviewers Mr. Adams does not review the three sonatas individually. He refers only to the opening of the seventh so one is left wondering whether his comments apply to all three sonatas or to this one section. Personally I find this incompleteness to be ambiguous, unsatisfactory and confusing.
For the complete review please enter Reviews of Metier MSV 28544 Eric Craven Piano Sonatas.
Eric Craven - Composer 