A few days ago, I came across an article in one of the newspapers, which aired a critical outlook on Wikipedia. In short it was criticising the fact, that - although the basic idea is excellent - because of unlimited access to data (and therefore being fully editable by anyone who wishes to do so), the quality of information is at risk. True. While an incomplete article can be completed by someone, who happens to know additional details, the danger is there that an ignorant person could equally alter the contents in such a way, that the article will be incorrect, to say the least, or even manipulate facts on purpose (for whatever purpose, willingly or unwillingly). I must add, that this was referring to a certain language-branch of the Wikipedia, where such abuse was spotted.
The quality check, is therefore up to the reader in general, to cross check (never a bad thing anyway), but in the event you have not a specific know-how of the subject, you might take it too easily for the truth and simply assume you are well-informed.
This morning, I gooogled a bit and stumbled upon a clip, which was published by a recording company on YouTube. It was promoting a young soloist playing some Vivaldi's concerto's (I shall not reveal the name of the soloist, for it is not relevant). The presentation is juicy and illustrates the recording, an interview with the instrumentalist, and of course the usual excerpts of the said recording.
Needless to say: Vivaldi belongs to a certain period, and for about 40 years we already know how badly we have performed these compositions and we are attempting to put them back into their (more realistic) sound context, by means of research and new practices. What shocks me here, is that despite an arch-lute and a cembalo, nobody in the orchestra plays a period instrument, and neither does the soloist, and - of course - the full vibrato romantic sound....
If it was just like that, I wouldn't have bothered perhaps, only then during the interview, the soloist is making such statements as if this recording is finally the summit of totally understanding Vivaldi's music and his time. This is pure pretension and disinformation: none of it what and how it is played has anything to do with Vivaldi, and the soloist looks like almost like a silly text-reader, revealing little knowledge of her profession. When browsing through the comments, it is saddening to see shouts like "music as it should be" (really???), "better than any other recordings" (that's maybe subjective, but definitively not historically correct, and thus questionable).
Such promotional materials are maldeforming the image of music to the audience. And here is the risk again; the information, simply because someone bothered to put it online, is taken for valid, without being questioned. Our sense of being critical to information provided has shallowed over time. I admit, that the internet is a great tool for finding data, and perhaps I couldn't live without it anylonger. But such trends make me extremely wary. When reading, I sometimes cannot help but concluding that we have become very superficial and lazy. If we want to be entertained by Greek-mythology characters on TV in a Sci-Fi kind of setting and listening to a pseudo-Vivaldi like this.... it is too sad for words. It is presumably the Age of Information, but we have become almost void of knowledge. And yes, there are also very high quality performances, but take the effort to look for them.
MS
The quality check, is therefore up to the reader in general, to cross check (never a bad thing anyway), but in the event you have not a specific know-how of the subject, you might take it too easily for the truth and simply assume you are well-informed.
This morning, I gooogled a bit and stumbled upon a clip, which was published by a recording company on YouTube. It was promoting a young soloist playing some Vivaldi's concerto's (I shall not reveal the name of the soloist, for it is not relevant). The presentation is juicy and illustrates the recording, an interview with the instrumentalist, and of course the usual excerpts of the said recording.
Needless to say: Vivaldi belongs to a certain period, and for about 40 years we already know how badly we have performed these compositions and we are attempting to put them back into their (more realistic) sound context, by means of research and new practices. What shocks me here, is that despite an arch-lute and a cembalo, nobody in the orchestra plays a period instrument, and neither does the soloist, and - of course - the full vibrato romantic sound....
If it was just like that, I wouldn't have bothered perhaps, only then during the interview, the soloist is making such statements as if this recording is finally the summit of totally understanding Vivaldi's music and his time. This is pure pretension and disinformation: none of it what and how it is played has anything to do with Vivaldi, and the soloist looks like almost like a silly text-reader, revealing little knowledge of her profession. When browsing through the comments, it is saddening to see shouts like "music as it should be" (really???), "better than any other recordings" (that's maybe subjective, but definitively not historically correct, and thus questionable).
Such promotional materials are maldeforming the image of music to the audience. And here is the risk again; the information, simply because someone bothered to put it online, is taken for valid, without being questioned. Our sense of being critical to information provided has shallowed over time. I admit, that the internet is a great tool for finding data, and perhaps I couldn't live without it anylonger. But such trends make me extremely wary. When reading, I sometimes cannot help but concluding that we have become very superficial and lazy. If we want to be entertained by Greek-mythology characters on TV in a Sci-Fi kind of setting and listening to a pseudo-Vivaldi like this.... it is too sad for words. It is presumably the Age of Information, but we have become almost void of knowledge. And yes, there are also very high quality performances, but take the effort to look for them.
MS
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