Monday, April 15, 2013

It's a Great Day for Errors at the Times

They need me to proofread everything they say about musicians.

  • In the obituary for the late pianist and composer David Burge, the author refers to the tenor Axel Schiotz. By the time Mr. Burge worked with the singer, Schiotz had suffered a stroke and retrained as a baritone.
  • In the ArtsBlog obit for the late, great Sir Colin Davis, the author says that "It was not until 1992, with his masterful interpretation of the Sibelius cycle with the London Symphony, that his authority became apparent and his fame began to spread." Um, what? Davis was world famous long before 1992, especially for his interpretations and championing of Berlioz. Alex Ross mentions a run of Peter Grimes at the Met in 1969 that got national attention. Davis had a gigantic discography, with a recording career going back to the 1960s. The claim in the obit is outrageous and ignorant. I hope there's a full-length obit still to come that's written by a member of the music criticism staff. 

4 comments:

Paul Pelkonen said...

Sir Colin came to fame in 1959 the same way Leonard Bernstein did, subbing for another conductor (in this case Otto Klemperer in Don Giovanni/.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Not the finest day for the Times, eh? A bunch of people, including me, have pointed out that the 1992 claim is nonsense. I sent email to the news desk and pinged NYTimesMusic on Twitter.

Eric G said...

Paul Griffiths obit is now up on the Times site: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/arts/music/colin-davis-exuberant-british-conductor-dies-at-85.html?smid=tw-nytimesarts&seid=auto

Lisa Hirsch said...

And it's a good one!