In contrast to his stark demolition of Rauchenecker last week, this time David Hurwitz is spot on in his YouTube video about Gernsheim (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkK2awsi0Mw).
I like Gernsheim's Symphonies very much, but don't tell DH that I prefer the Rauchenecker precisely because it doesn't sound like Brahms...
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Thursday 10 November 2022, 21:34...this time David Hurwitz is spot on
A stopped clock is right twice a day.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Thursday 10 November 2022, 22:17..don't tell DH that I prefer the Rauchenecker precisely because it doesn't sound like Brahms...
Mum's the word, but that's a good example why so many post here using pseudonyms. You're a braver man than I!
I think Hurwitz does what he does and preaches as he does for entertainment's sake more than the content of the music itself. He's far more interested in his own theatrics than what the musical content might be - the entertainment is usually what I watch his videos for to be honest. My knowledge of most composers is less than his but even with that it's not hard to recognize when he goes on one of his eccentric rants that have nothing to do with the music itself.
He's usually at his best when he does the occasional promotional video for this or that unsung composer. Rauchenecker did receive an unfair broadside from him, but many of those videos have been fair and now and then even insightful as well.
I'd say that DH - like all of us - has his likes, dislikes and prejudices. The problem is his prominence on YouTube. There need to be competing voices, but who's going to commit themselves to the time needed to offer a serious challenge to him? I mean, does the man ever see the sun?
You do wonder. It seems like four or five videos a day.
Less would be more, I feel.
I get the feeling that Hurwitz doesn't have much of a life outside of this. I think he was much more persuasive as a writer than as a talking head.
Like all people, he is subject to his prejudices. Toccata unfortunately chose him to write their book on Robert Schumann, having picked a writer who is particularly hostile to Robert Schumann. And yet sometimes he sees things clearly. Today I was listening to the fifth and sixth symphonies of Roy Harris (admittedly outside of our remit) and thought to myself, I wonder if anyone appreciates Harris to the level that I do? He's sort of an unsung among 20th century Americans. I stumbled across his review of the very recording I was listening to and I found that Hurwitz did indeed share my opinion, even going as far to call him "a sort of New World Bruckner", which I thought a very telling observation. I came away appreciating his insight all the more, yet equally bewildered at his inability to see the greatness, even the value, in certain other composers.
In his video on Gernsheim's symphonies he admits, for example, that he is predisposed to finding 19th century (unsung) German symphonies tedious - whereas I find the whole subject fascinating. Just shows how different we all are.
I suspect this video making has become addictive for him. Underneath his shenanigans though he is a serious person. His best stuff, e.g. his series on the Haydn symphonies has really been very good, similarly the one on Shostakovich's symphonies (where he gives an intro into the works in addition to giving his judgement on recordings). He has figured out ways to talk about music to lay people without either falling into the jargon of Conservatory lessons or using the flowery but meaningless metaphors of so many critics.
Like all opinionated people he has a whole bee-house in his bonnet. But his main problem now is that he is too prolific (like many composers BTW).
Agreed. I mean, his 'Faves' have reached No.338...
I'd like to thank Hurwitz for correcting my pronunciation of Gernsheim.
Gairns-hime.
Maybe he could take a break and listen to their choral and chamber works instead. Gernsheim wrote works that Brahms never would have, for example (if only in subject matter)...