Critics Are People
June 14 2010

Critics are people.

Critic.

From the Greek for discern or judge.

Not a very pretty word. The double k (phonologically, a velar plosive,) double i (dorsal high vowel), and lone t (alveolar plosive). Yecch. None of the beauty of liquids or glides.

Critic.

The Pianobabbler spent his weekend with critics. Members of the Music Critics' Association of North America (MCANA), to be specific. This professional collective dedicates itself to advancing classical music criticism. The Pianobabbler, as Executive Secretary of the Glenn Gould Foundation organized a showing of Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, followed by a panel discussion, for a score of MCANA members.

The critics and I filled several stimulating hours listening, watching, talking. A pleasant surprise.

I admit: a socially and intellectually pleasurable afternoon is not what was playing at the Pianobabbler's cinema of the imagination when he first concocted this MCANA event. The movie running in my mind depicted terrifying monsters and hapless victims, scaly critics and crumbly musicians.

So much received wisdom floats about in the collective consciousness to reinforce the dystopian images of critics. Disraeli's It is much easier to be critical than to be correct, summarizes the mean view we take of critics.

But the daft Pianobabbler had no cause to schvitz about the MCANA event. In the first place, critics have never so much as uttered a grim word about him, never mind bitten off his head. The Pianobabbler's press page parades a fat pride of encomia.

And then, critics are people. Just people. Many are good, a small few are rogues, a smaller few are inspired artists in their own right. Two critics at the MCANA event fell into the latter hypocategory: Tim Page and William Littler.

Most critics bind passion, language, learning, observation, discernment and integrity tightly to produce diamonds of insight that enable the audiences to cut through their windows on the arts, no matter how dense or opaque.

Sitting with the cohort of critics this weekend, taking in some of Glenn Gould's sublime work, the Pianobabbler was conscious of their reactions and interactions. They eyebrowed, they 'tsk'd, they laughed, they swooned. They breathed. Normal human reactions. Just people. And I knew these people would soon be serving up to people the pleasure and fascination they found in the work of Glenn Gould.

So, thank you MCANA. Thank you Tim Page and William Littler. Thank you critics.

And, if you don't mind, keep the encomia flowing. They're critical.

The Pianobabbler has babbled.

The Pianobabbler is a RonDavisMusic production. The Pianobabbler's blog posts appear weekly at pianobabber.com. Please remember to leave your comments and thoughts below. Subscribe to the RSS feed. And subscribe to RonDavisNews by clicking on the link, above right. And follow us on Twitter.

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