Since republishing here my discography of Michael Tippett the other day (see my blogpost from March 1 and my Michael Tippett introductory page), I’ve put the completion of my Swingle Singer discography on the backburner, and I’ve been busying myself with transferring over here my Tippett reviews from Amazon, mostly from late 2013-early 2014.
It’s a lot work and it takes a lot of time! It’s never just a simple matter of copying and pasting and done, because I try to do here what Amazon would not le me do, and make each review as “encyclopedic” as possible, with complete information on sources, editions and reissues (it is with a vague sense of guilt that I plunder my own Tippett discography – thanks to the guy who compiled it, I should be a little more honest and give him credit!), cover photos (and finding suitable photos online, front and even more importantly, back, because that’s where the indispensable info is, can take some time), recording dates and venues.
And then, there is the matter of references. Typically, in my reviews, I’ll refer to other recordings – some that I’ve reviewed and some that I haven’t. If I just copy and paste from Amazon, those references have the form that links have on Amazon reviews, sending the reader back to an Amazon ASIN number. Now, I have no reason to do Amazon the curtesy of sending readers to them; everybody should be free to go to the commercial website of their preference, or just to discographic websites like Discogs.com or Muziekweb.nl. So I need to change those Amazon links into the CD’s label number and barcode – and, if possible, append a cover photo, because it is always more telling for the reader than an abstract and dry suite of digits. And, ideally, if it’s a CD I’ve reviewed, I need to transfer the review over here, so that the link in review A on Discophage.com will lead to review B on Discophage.com. And if this review B that was referred to in review A, in turn refers to review C, then I need to import review C as well… It’s an endless Round (as in Schnitzler’s Reigen).
And those Tippett reviews that I’m transferring over here are a good case in point. I’ve started small – I mean, in instrumental lineup – and am almost done reposting here my reviews of Tippett’s Piano Sonatas. Then, hopefully, I’ll move on to the string quartets, etc. But I can complete the cross-linkings only when I’ve transferred all my reviews of Tippett’s Sonatas – plus some, because in some of those CDs, the sonata(s) is/are paired with Quartets or orchestral pieces, so I need to transfer much more than only the reviews of the Sonatas. And then, because the pairing on one of the CDs is of a Sonata by Scottish composer Iain Hamilton, and in the review I refer to another CD with pieces by that composer, there you go again. And then, that new CD pairs Hamilton with a composition by Alexander Goehr, and in the review I refer to other recordings of the music of Goehr… Round and round it goes.
I’ll soon – when I’m done cleaning up all those cross-links – give the links to all those Tippett reviews, but in the meanwhile you can find them by simply typing Tippett in the search box.
Now and for years, I have read everything that I have seen of your writings. I make better choices, and new ones from your content. Somehow I suspect you would do all of what you do anyway. But little is lost on me. I cannot understand why Amazoo discourages me from making purchases because they demand $120 per year to hear low grade snippets.
Thanks Richard for your kind comments. They fuel me.