Reviewing critical practice: An analysis of Gramophone’s reviews of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, 1923–2010

Abstract

The study offers an overview of a large sample of music performance criticism in the British classical music market through the analysis of reviews of Beethoven’s piano sonata recordings ( N = 845) published in the magazine Gramophone between 1923 and 2010. Reviews were collected from the Gramophone archive, and descriptive and inferential statistics were used to explore the reviews’ metadata: issue, text length, repertoire, release status, pianists reviewed and critics. There was a large number of recordings ( n = 641) and pianists ( n = 216) considered during this period, with reviews provided by 52 critics. However, reviews were concentrated around only a small number of authors and performers. The most frequently published critics had long careers and a high level of familiarity with the repertoire and its interpretations. Comparisons between performances were found to be a characterizing trait of critical practice, and the most often reviewed pianists corresponded to those most frequently used for comparisons. Besides new recordings, there were many reviews of re-issues ( n = 205), although this pattern decreased in later decades. The findings emphasize the importance of the comparative element for the evaluation of performances and the necessity to account for the peculiar nature of recorded versus live performance to understand the processes behind critical practice. Furthermore, taken together the results suggest that critics have an important role as filters of choice in the music recording market.