I'm delighted to say that Cantilena got quite a positive review in the Musical Intelligencer. An example of a particularly delightful quote would be: "This is Allegra Martin’s first season as director, and programming is her strong suit." W00t!
I do wish, however, that the reviewer had opinionated more! I would have liked to know her opinions of particular pieces, especially the commissioned pieces. I think perhaps reviewers are not always aware of how avidly the chorus and performers will pounce on reviews as a source of feedback; as someone whose strong suite is programming (ahem, in case anyone forgot that in the last 1.6 seconds) I find it very valuable to know which pieces people enjoyed hearing when thinking ahead to the next season.
I was very happy with the concert; everyone sang beautifully and with great energy. The one disappointment was that the recording engineer totally failed to show up, or respond to any phone calls, so we were left high and dry and did not get to record the concert. The name of that recording engineer would be Michael Breault of Dracut, by the way. JUST in case anyone wants to know!
You don't really want specific opinions from reviewers. Most reviewers are less informed than you are and their opinions are no more valuable than that of any other audience member: good to know and keep in mind, but to be interpreted through your own educated and experienced perspective.
ReplyDelete@ Amelia NP:
ReplyDeleteSure I do! I like getting the opinions of any audience member; and I don't feel that a review should be a book report, just stating what happened at the concert, I think the reviewer should opinionate! Of course I always do process any opinions I get through my own perspective, but I like having something to process. :)
For example, I thought the comment about the "sameness" of the music was very useful; that is something I was worried about when I programmed the concert, and it's interesting to hear that someone else picked up on it. I'll keep that in mind in the future; there are lots of ways to vary the texture of a concert, and now I have some feedback that people notice when I do or do not consider that in programming.