Evaluation model for music reviews
Researchers at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts have examined a large number of reviews of Beethoven recordings and developed an evaluation model that allows them to navigate the complex world of music criticism more confidently.
What criteria do critics use to judge an artist's performance? Until now, there has been a lack of corresponding empirical studies. Doctoral student Elena Alessandri and a team at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts have analyzed 845 reviews of Beethoven's piano sonatas that appeared in the British classical music magazine "Gramophone" between 1923 and 2010.
The researchers divided the text volume of over 400,000 words into three categories: The first includes aesthetic criteria such as intensity or complexity. "Critics discuss, among other things, how elegant, rich in contrast or coherent a recording is," says Alessandri. The second category describes the performance: how much technical control the pianist has, how willing to take risks or how carefully he or she plays. Even ethical issues, such as a musician's honesty or integrity, were assessed. Thirdly, it was examined whether the playing fits the musical and cultural context.
Two results were surprising for Alessandri and her team: "Over a period of more than 90 years, the way critics review music has hardly changed." In addition, professional music critics pay much more attention to performance criteria than is usual in examination and competition situations. The analysis of the critics' vocabulary and the evaluation model are intended to provide support for musicians, musicologists and critics. It shows which aspects critics attach more or less importance to and how they assess these aspects in detail.
"The evaluation of a piece of music is very complex and depends on many factors. Knowing and understanding the relevant criteria is enormously valuable for reflecting on our own musical work, but also for the way we listen to, evaluate and describe music," says Alessandri.
The research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. In a follow-up project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and the University of Sheffield will investigate the function of music criticism (in German and English) in the classical music market. In particular, the question of the extent to which music criticism can influence the perception and purchasing behavior of music lovers and through which linguistic means will be investigated.
More info: journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00391/full
