”Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at a very small expence. The power of invention has been conferred by Nature upon few, and the labour of learning those sciences which may, by mere labour, be obtained, is too great to be willingly endured; but every man can exert such judgment as he has upon the works of others; and he whom Nature has made weak, and Idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a Critic.” – Samuel Johnson.
Last Thursday the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra suffered a terrible savaging from Prof. David Fanning in The Telegraph. Click here to see his review…
Telegraph-review
I have seldom seen such a reaction to his, or anyone’s, criticisms. The paying public are baying for his blood (some literally!!!). Have a look at the Phil’s website and see what the discerning Liverpool audience, Vasily Petrenko, other critics and Fanning’s only supporter, Mrs. Fanning (Michelle Assay) have to say about his scurrilous remarks. One concert goer has offered a public hanging and another, a former soldier, has challenged Fanning to three rounds in a boxing ring!
Even heavyweight critic Norman Lebrecht has waded in on the act:-
I also felt moved to say something and posted the following on the RLPO Facebook page:
“…I have been following the ‘savaging’ of what seems like every aspect of last Thursday’s concert experience by David Fanning in the Telegraph, with interest. Apart from Mrs Fanning, Michelle Assay, he would appear to be the only person, so far, who is of this opinion.
For what it’s worth, I have been playing Shostakovich symph. no. 7 up and down the UK for nearly thirty years, with most orchestras and many conductors including other, excellent Russians. Despite being involved in the performance last Thursday myself, I would like to state that I believe Maestro Petrenko’s reading of the work stands alongside any of those other performances; to say the very least. I did not hear the Qigang Chen, as I was not involved, but all my colleagues have expressed a certain amount of delight. In my opinion, The Chairman Dances, by John Adams, is a fabulous piece, by a composer writing at the very top level in his genre. The audience expressed appreciation heartily throughout, culminating in the standing ovation. (Well deserved according to Richard Morrison-The Times). Many concert-goers then bought tickets for Sunday’s concert also, to hear the Shostakovich again.
I believe I have strengthened my opinion after listening to the concert again on BBC iPlayer. The resultant savaging, in return, of Prof. Fanning’s review by outraged concert-goers has come as no surprise to me. Maybe the offer of a public hanging and the challenge of three rounds in a boxing ring are more so.
Of course, being in the business of professional performance, I am happy to read criticism from anyone in attendance at one of the RLPO’s concerts. That’s what live performance is all about. I suppose it is impossible to please everyone, all the time; especially David Fanning, seemingly. On a final, albeit rather amusing note, I would like to ask the ‘wife who piped up, then piped down again’ (Lebrecht), Michelle Assay, whether or not there is any truth in the rumour of Prof. Fanning falling asleep during the performance, or not. Only, you both seem to have attended a very different concert to myself and the overwhelming consensus of the audience.
Yours sincerely
Brendan Ball (Principal Trumpet-RLPO)
p.s. These views are entirely my own and do not represent the opinions of anyone else.”
My old pal and colleague from London, Andrew Waddicor, who has done a few Shostakovich 7′s himself, has contributed the following to the general debate, “… I remember a crit of an RLPO concert we did years ago, when the critic complained in his column that the brass – as always- were too loud in the opening Carmen Suite. It was an arrangement for percussion.”
Finally, some views from well known people on critics:-
From Jean Sibelius : ‘Never pay attention to what the critics say; a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic.’
From Brendan Behan : ‘Critics are like eunuchs in a harem. They’re there every night, they see it done, they know how it should be done, but they can’t do it.’
The quote that says it all. Peter O’Toole, when questioned about the critics’ poor response to his first night on Parkinson replied with the line we all use now to keep our spirits up ‘Tomorrow’s chip wrapper’.
