Today, Bachtrack published the 25,000th review written for us: our very own Mark Pullinger’s review of Avner Dorman’s Wahnfried at Longborough Festival, an opera about the legacy of Richard Wagner which is truly one for the cognoscenti. In the fifteen years since we took our first baby steps into reviewing, we have spanned the four points of the compass, from Tokyo to Vancouver, from Bodø in the Arctic Circle in Norway to Wellington in New Zealand. In the last 12 months, we have published an average of 150 reviews per month, in four languages, of performances in 37 countries. With every review professionally edited, that makes us the most prolific classical music review site on the planet.
The span of music and dance we review is as staggering as the geographical spread: from early music to contemporary; solo recitals to large-scale choral works; stalwarts of the opera repertoire to cutting edge productions and newly written pieces; from contemporary dance creations to the canonical works of classical ballet; from the great houses to intimate chamber venues.
Our reviews have lasting influence. This February, seven years after the world premiere of Alexander Ekman’s Play, Laurine Mortha’s review (in French) became the most read review on Bachtrack, eliciting huge interest after Paris Opera Ballet revived the piece in December. The second most read – and the most impressive for sheer longevity – is Raisa Massuda’s 2013 review of Faust at Lyric Opera Baltimore, which is still chalking up hundreds of views per month. And although we don’t publish many polemics, our most experienced piano reviewer Alain Lompech stirred up a hornet’s nest of debate with his excoriating account of Khatia Buniatishvili’s latest Paris recital. French editor Tristan Labouret recalls discussing the piece on the phone with Alain, who was pained by having to write the piece, but kept repeating “well, someone had to say it”.
Most of our reviews are of happier occasions. German editor Elisabeth Schwarz recalls Michael Vieth – the first reviewer she recruited to the Bachtrack team – opening his account with a review that “couldn’t have been grander”: Herbert Blomstedt conducting the Bamberg Symphony in Bruckner 5 at the Kaiserdom in Bamberg. Spanish editor Katia de Miguel points out that putting together big names may guarantee a sold-out run but fall short artistically – but that certainly wasn’t the case for the Liceu’s latest Magic Flute, described beautifully by Juan José Freijo, who “excels at the art of attracting the reader from the very beginning and making him read to the end”. And while artists like Jordi Savall are known to deserve their regular five-star notices, it can be difficult to explain the reasons as sensitively as in Leonardo Mattana Ereño’s account of Savall’s “East Meets West” programme at Madrid’s Palácio Real.
But what we should celebrate most is the sheer quality of our best writing. English editor Mark Pullinger bemoans the effect on his wallet when “some reviews bring the production alive so vividly that you just have to go and book to see it yourself! One such expense last season was Mark Valencia’s review of Welsh National Opera’s (brilliant) new Death in Venice.” Mark also recalls – with more than a tinge of sadness – the brilliance of the late Matthew Rye, “whose analysis of the controversial Frank Castorf Ring cycle at Bayreuth was so insightful, but wore its erudition lightly.”
For Tristan Labouret, it is Romain Daroles’ ability to sum up a whole evening in an article – Romain’s review of Maria João Pires and Matthias Goerne in Gstaad amounted to “a small literary masterpiece, giving a recital the dimensions of eternity”. Dance editor Deborah Weiss is in awe of New York-based Carla Escoda (here’s her latest, from the Joyce Theater), who has “such strong powers of description that I can imagine exactly what she’s seen on stage. She writes empathically but with genuine authority and an understanding of how to make the reader visualise a lift or a series of steps by presenting it metaphorically”. Elisabeth is proudest of Alexandra Richter’s Baden-Baden review of Die Frau ohne Schatten – “a brilliant female reviewer covering a brilliant female director showing Strauss’ opera from a much needed female perspective and asking the uncomfortable questions that men too often simply ignore.”
Some of our reviewers benefit from being artists themselves, either now or in the past. Deb praises Sydney-based Katie Lawrence’s ability, shown here, “to conjure up a vivid picture of both the set and visuals plus a nuanced description of how it might actually feel to be dancing the steps. She has a thorough knowledge and experience of what it takes to execute choreography and will often compare what she is watching to more relatable subjects that are more obviously accessible to the general public.” Tristan has been thrilled to see the development of Pierre Liscia-Beaurenaut, a young violinist who has now become a member of the Quatuor Metamorphoses, protegés of the Quatuor Modigliani – whom Pierre reviewed for us in 2019. ”You can tell”, Tristan observes, “that he already knew what he was talking about!”
Hopefully, we don’t treat ourselves too seriously. We can get a good laugh from just a headline like “Why, why, why Dalila?” from Hugo Shirley’s review of (yet another) disappointing production at Staatsoper Berlin, or Isabella Steppan’s “Eine so la La bohème an der Wiener Staatsoper” (“so lala” translates to “so-so”). Or it can be a turn of phrase, as when Roy Westbrook induced guffaws describing the overture of a Longborough Don Giovanni where the Don indulges in several bouts of sexual activity, emerging from each dressed for a different sport: “If you want to try this at home”, Roy quips, “you should know that the overture to the opera lasts just six minutes.”
And finally, a hat-tip to some of the reviewers who have had the distinction of writing for us in more than one language: Elodie Olson-Coons, Beate Langenbruch, Julie Jozwiak, and last but certainly not least, Vienna-based “Snapdragon” who has become a firm friend of Mark and Elisabeth, with whom she shares a love for Erwin Schrott, as demonstrated in this 2023 review of Carmen.
So a heartfelt thanks to our wonderful editors and our wonderful reviewers. The body of work you have produced is outstanding and an important gift to the world of music. Long may it continue.
Montage 1 photo credits (l-r, top to bottom): Richard Termine, Chris Lee, Pavel Hejný, LSO/Mark Allan, Vincent Pontet, Photography by ASH, Maxime Guthfreund, Marc Brenner, Matthew Williams-Ellis, Marko Djokovic/Belgrade Philharmonic, Monika Rittershaus, Marco Sommer/Volksoper Wien, Chris P Lim/Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Kirsten Nijhof, Gert Mothes, Tristram Kenton, Ingo Schaefer, Thomas Amouroux, Tristram Kenton, Eduardus Lee, Wiener Staatsoper/Michael Pöhn, LSO/Mark Allan, Craig Abercrombie, Paula Lobo
Montage 2 photo credits (l-r, top to bottom): Andrew Beveridge, Tristram Kenton, Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Richard Hubert Smith, Glyndebourne Productions Ltd/Tristram Kenton, Press office of Classic Violin Olympus, Barbican/Mark Allan, Andrej Uspenski/RBO, Wiener Konzerthaus/Andrea Humer, Phoebe Tuxford/NZSO, Elizabeth Asher, courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Dutch National Opera/Ruth Walz, Paula Lobo, Won Hee Lee, Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera, Prague Spring Festival/Petra Hajská, Erin Baiano, Mihaela Bodlovic, RBO/Monika Rittershaus, Maria Baranova, Teatro alla Scala/Brescia e Amisano, Michael Cooper, Chris Lee, Alice Blangero
