Quartet of Critics

This year, too, four critics, moderated by Olaf Wilhelmer, will discuss a pivotal work in music history: in 2025, it will be Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Op. 45.


Critics and artists are by no means natural enemies, despite the caricatures that often claim otherwise. After all, there were times when they, like Hanslick and Brahms, played piano four-handed together. However, there is no reason to assume that those good old days are over; even if the old days were in truth never as good as they are later made out to be. Therefore, it is important that all those who hold art dear and who are its advocates pull together, together, for art, and – certainly – critically.


In music criticism, the business of public relations (portraits, personal stories, interviews) has largely replaced critical discourse about the works and their interpretation (reviews). In print media, framing and advertising have recently replaced argumentation; on the internet, while many argue a great deal, there is also a great deal of rambling. And so, a critical institution like the best-of lists published quarterly by the German Record Critics' Award (PdSK) is more important today than ever.


A handful of music critics came together in 1963 to establish this award with the goal of establishing reliable quality control for the advertising-dominated record market, providing reasoned recommendations, and thus promoting the art of interpretation.


Today, 160 music critics from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland belong to this association. They work voluntarily on 32 expert juries and, in addition to the best-of lists, select annual and honorary award winners every autumn. And sometimes four of them come together to form a "Quartet of Critics" to publicly discuss a particular work and compare recordings.


— Eleonore Büning


Participants

• Susanne Benda – Stuttgarter Nachrichten
  
• Elisabeth Richter – Freelance Music Journalist
  
• Michael Stegemann – Musicologist
  
• Albrecht Thiemann – Freelance Music Journalist
  
• Olaf Wilhelmer – Moderator, Editor, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
  

talk about Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Op. 45



(IN GERMAN)


#MusikfestBerlin