A decade of Slipped Disc
mainIn 2010, Slipped Disc was hosted by artsjournal.com and the leader in classical music news was Alex Ross.
A decade on, www.slippedisc.com has 1.7 million monthly readers, at least four times as many as any other site.
Although we lost much of our backlog when the site went independent in 2014, here are some highlights of the decade:
2010 Boris boosts music education. It practically wrecked his career.
2011 Musicians seek boycott of Israel Phil BBC Prom. All the usual suspects signed on.
2012 Federer faces Beethoven. Won in straight sets.
2013 JFK airport agents destroyed my flutes. The post went viral on Reddit, crashing the AJ site and prompting our move to www.slippedisc.com
2014 Jonas Kaufmann in love. You read it here first.
2015 Ten men sang most at the Met. No women.
2016 The orchestra with the most married couples. Then the conductor got divorced.
2017 Kissin weds. Just another exclusive.
2018 Maestro gets fired. Usual reason.
2019 Yuja Wang. It just got shorter.
When I see posts like “DEATH OF 3-IN-A-BED CONDUCTOR” I’m not quite ready to pin the crown of ‘leader in classical music news’ on Slipped Disc. Quite often a good source of gossip and prurient content, yes (i.e. Yuja Wang’s wardrobe). But LEADER in classical music news? I’m not so sure on that count.
To my knowledge, Alex Ross is no longer an aggregator of anything. He does much more important work. I look to him and other arts journalists for the most important writing in this area. For that I have my own set of links and regularly visit those sources directly.
Trolling for content — which is primarily what SD seems to do — does turn up some pearls among the other swill that anyone can easily find on the internet. So to the extent that SD points me to those pearls, it performs a valued role, though usually stories of note (the pearls) are already available on major media.
Looking up above, it’s kind of sad that much of what Norman cites as ‘some of the highlights of the decade’ easily falls into the swill category, and notable milestones are completely ignored.
Norman, consider this a call from one reader for some greater editorial oversight.
The fact that you posted here about the 3-in-a-bed conductor here is proof that you are a regular visitor. So, quit pretending to have taken the higher ground.
Most of us only come here to be outraged.
I am surprised at the choice of highlights.
Aside from gossip, Slippeddisc often publishes news or insightful commentary. A good example of the latter was, I think, the Maazel obituary.
https://slippedisc.com/2014/07/lorin-maazel-a-maestro-of-limitless-possibilities/
Norman, with all my rispect I think you write too much about the marketing of miss Wang
I agree. More pictures and less writing in regards to “miss Wang”.
There are some fatastics youngs pianists who d’ont have the marketing of DG… Beatrice Rana and above all Yeol Eum Son
This list is a good summary of the site: some exclusives, some good news coverage, and some gratuitous ogling of one of the world’s leading pianists.
Who has put herself front and centre into the ogling position.
By being a pianist?
Look, the Slipped Disc crowd loudly clamors that ‘music comes first’ every time there’s a discussion of regietheater. That seems true for everyone…except Yuja Wang.
(Holds finger to temple) I wonder why this is so? In what noticeable way is she different from any other living pianist?
Yes, she is a young woman who is being objectified for reasons that have nothing to do with her playing. Next question?
Her clothes scream “look at me”! Are you not paying attention?
SD comments: Her marketing assumes we can’t think of anything except her dresses! How insulting!
Also SD Comments: Have you seen her dresses?
Emil, make a list of “the world’s leading pianists” and place her on it. Could you do that, buddy?
Way to miss the point, buddy.
Thought not. And it was your point.
Why don’t you make a list of “the world’s leading pianists” and I will tell you why she is better than each person on your list?
Slipped Disc? I suppose it’s better than a broken heart.
I look at this site now before the NY Times and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
I like the democratic spirit of Slipped Disc ( the commentary section). The diversity of opinions expressed here is something like a rara avis in the present very polarized ( undemocratic) world.
I would like to suggest SD drop the issue of deceased artist’s political affiliations. Did Gilels and Richter’s communist background affect their interpretations ? Or, did Karajan and Boehm’s NS affiliations influence their music making ? These issues have been litigated over and over and there
is nothing new to be said.
Just a thought.
Or, at least, SD should qualify the level of political affiliation. There is a huge difference between being a “Mitläufer” (hanger on) and actively supporting a totalitarian government, not to speak of taking actions that harm others.
Some empathy could also help: some of the musicians who are subjected to lots of armchair criticism in this space, where human beings who had to protect their own children or, in some cases, Jewish relatives in the Third Reich.