Norman Lebrecht blusters as blogs bloom

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-1163011904430506342006-11-08T18:48:00.000Z2007-01-25T19:45:06.253ZNorman Lebrecht blusters as blogs bloom<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3093/528/1600/lebrecht.0.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3093/528/400/lebrecht.jpg" border="0" /></a> In today’s <a href="http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/061108-NL-walk.html">Evening Standard and online</a> Norman Lebrecht declares ‘until bloggers deliver hard facts … paid for newspapers will continue to set the standard as the only show in town’ and goes on to take a swipe at On An Overgrown Path’s <a href="http://www.theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2006/11/bbc-historic-broadcast-was-fraud-say.html">story about the BBC King’s College broadcast</a>. Now I don’t think for a moment Stormin’ Norman has an axe to grind even if he does write for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evening_Standard">a paid for newspaper</a> and presents a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/lebrechtlive/">BBC Radio 3 programme</a>, but his blustering cannot be ignored. Among the many accusations he flings around are that I do not deliver hard facts, I trade in unchecked trivia, and I did not check my story with the BBC, so let's look at these points. Not hard facts - I reported that the BBC had announced a 1956 Argo commercial recording as a 1954 BBC broadcast. Here is a transcript from the broadcast of the presenters introduction: ' This week's broadcast of choral evensong.... Today, a stunning broadcast from 1954, a service from the chapel of King's College Cambridge. The choir was conducted by Boris Ord, who was Director of Music from 1929 to 1957..... ' Both Lebrecht and the BBC now admit that the broadcast was the 1956 Argo recording, but the transcript above shows it was announced as 'a stunning broadcast from 1954'. Can the facts be any harder than that? No, despite attempts to obscure them by a BBC and Lebrecht smokescreen of 'erased tapes.' The story was not checked with the BBC and was unchecked trivia - before running the story I checked a number of sources including a choir member on the 1956 Argo recording who had heard the broadcast. This choir member had raised the deception with the BBC and received an <a href="http://theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2006/01/bbcs-bach-christmas-huge-hit-or-was-it.html">automated response</a> from them, and nothing has been heard since. Lebrecht's ability to get a response from the BBC surely cannot be connected with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/lebrechtlive/">the programme he presents</a> for them? Elsewhere Lebrecht says 'online blogs won't be required reading until they start focussing on the facts' - a soundbyte worth closer scrutiny. On April 5th 2006 a journalist called Norman Lebrecht wrote the following <a href="http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/060405-NL-download.html">in a paid for newspaper</a> "in fact, no label had issued a (Beethoven) symphonic cycle in three years, and none was likely to do so again." When I read this I immediately emailed Norman to point out that Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra were currently recording a Beethoven cycle. Back came a blustering reply that 'confidential sources said the Minnesota cycle would proceed no further'. Unfortunately Lebrecht's facts were well and truly out of focus, symphonies 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 are <a href="http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/music/re_beethoven.cfm">now available</a>. I can only agree with Lebrecht's statement that 'paid for newspapers will continue to set the standard'. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3093/528/1600/lebrecht2.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0px 0px 3pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3093/528/200/lebrecht2.jpg" border="0" /></a>The only problem is it is a double standard - among Lebrecht's scoops today are that On An Overgrown Path 'flagged up this week's John Taverner premiere through the blogging of its soloist, Nicholas Daniel'. Norman, any music blogger focussed on the facts will tell you Nick Daniel was giving the first performance of a work by the contemporary composer John Tavener, and that John Taverner was a 16th century choral composer. For more on Norman Lebrecht's blusters take An Overgrown Path to <a href="http://theovergrownpath.blogspot.com/2006/04/wagner-downloads-and-beethoven-cycles.html">Wagner downloads and Beethoven cycles </a> Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8060605-116301190443050634?l=www.overgrownpath.com'/></div>Pliablenoreply@blogger.com19