Wikipedia:Peer review/John Culshaw/archive1

John Culshaw

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I have listed this article for peer review because I have gone as far with it as I can, and would be glad of input from other contributors. John Culshaw was one of the most important figures in the history of recorded classical music, and he deserves a proper article. He maintained a lower profile than his professional rival Walter Legge but his achievements are no less valuable, even four or five decades after his Decca triumphs. All suggestions gladly received. Tim riley (talk) 15:04, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Brianboulton comments:-

Early years

• It would be good to show the date of Culshaw's first published Gramophone article (March 1945), and provide a link to it. Here it is
  • Excellent suggestion. I'll do so.

Decca

• "It was followed by a popular introduction to concertos and a guide to modern music." I would say "It was followed by two further books; a popular introduction to concertos and a guide to modern music." You could give the titles: The Concerto in The World of Music Series (1949), and A Century of Music (1952).
  • Good. Done.
• Second paragraph: As the section is headed "Decca", I think the novel-writing detail is a little out of place here. Perhaps it could be put elsewhere, or at least in a paragraph of its own.
  • Move up. I think it works all right just before the Decca section. (Later - moved it right down into the publications section near the end – better there, I fancy.)

Capitol

• I'm not entirely happy with the sentence "He was prevented from encouraging the soprano Kirsten Flagstad from retirement, or signing the conductor Otto Klemperer—a misjudgment, as Culshaw noted in his memoirs, that Walter Legge of EMI was quick to remedy, with great artistic and commercial success." I have tweaked it a bit, but it still looks in need of attention. A "from" in front of "signing", maybe, and perhaps some movement around the end?
  • Done.

Stereo and the Decca Ring

• "Flagstad, whom he persuaded out of retirement..." I would refer briefly here to his unfulfilled wish to record Flagstad in his Capitol days - and I'd mention that she was 62 in 1957, a bit old for all the Heiaha Hojotoho, wouldn't you say? Also, she was unwilling to record the whole opera - but if she sang Sieglinde in Act I, and Brunnhilde in the Todesverkundigung scene and in Act III, then I reckon she's sung more than a complete Brunnhilde!
  • Done. She was chiefly afraid of the high notes at the start of Act II, especially after the bitching when Schwarzkopf was discovered to have sung Flagstad's high Cs in the EMI Tristan a few years earlier.
• "In the early years of stereo, Culshaw worked with Pierre Monteux in Stravinsky and Ravel, Solti in Richard Strauss (Arabella), and the first of many New Year's Day concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic and Willi Boskovsky." The grammar is awkward here; the sentence has become telegraphic, with some words apparently missing. I would suggest: "In the early years of stereo, Culshaw worked with Pierre Monteux in recordings of Stravinsky and Ravel and with Solti in a recording of Richard Strauss's Arabella. He also recorded the first of many New Year's Day concerts with Willi Boskovsky and the Vienna Philharmonic."
  • Done.
• Mention that Flagstad sang Fricka in the 1958 Decca Rhinegold
  • Done.

Britten, Karajan and others

• A few more dates in the section would help, e.g. when was the recording made in Coventry Cathedral, when was the Requiem recording issued? When were the Britten operas recorded, etc?
  • Done and will do, respectively.

Later years

• "By 1967 Culshaw wished for a change..." - seems somewhat laconic. Were there issues that led to him wishing to leave the recording industry? Was it the completion of the Ring cycle that made him feel his main work as a recording producer was done? A sentence or so of explanation might be worthwhile.
  • Done.
• Second paragraph: four consecutive sentences begin "Culshaw..." Some variation preferred.
  • Done.

Image captions

• The images could be better related to the text, so I suggest making the captions a little more informative, e.g. "Birgit Nilsson, who sang Brunnhilde in Culshaw's Decca Ring cycle", etc.
  • Will do.

Sources

• Just under half of the ninety-odd citations are to primary sources, i.e. Culshaw's own works. About 30 of these are to his autobiography. Bearing in mind that there is no biography, I suppose this is inevitable but it might be worth seeing if there are other secondary sources for some of these citations. For example, does Culshaw have an ODNB entry?
  • Yes, there is an ODNB article, and I have made six references to it, but it is not, in my opinion, the ODNB's finest hour. It draws heavily on the Times obit (which I have also used) and there is at least one statement that is plain wrong, and another that I think highly unlikely. Grove is pithy but adds nothing to the other sources.

I've been interested in Culshaw ever since I saw on DVD Humphrey Burton's TV film ("The Golden Ring", I think) about the making of the Solti Ring. There is an interesting line note from Burton, with a great vignette of Culshaw: "Culshaw was like some captain of the skies, surrounded by faders, filters and flickering meters, with trusted aides colleagues on either side acting as musical lookouts and steersmen, bringing sound channels in and out according to Culshaw and Parry's master plan." Of the relationship between Culshaw and Solti, Burton says: "I doubt whether the give and take between a great Wagnerian conductor and a recording producer with his own Wagnerian concept has ever been more faithfully captured".

• I first saw Burton's film at a private showing for family and friends in Southport at which the projectionist was none other than John Culshaw. I was a mere boy at the time. Tim riley (talk) 16:50, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Excellent article. I look forward to seeing it in its finished state. Brianboulton (talk) 15:11, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Excellent haul of suggestions. Shall ponder, incorporate and report back here. Grateful thanks. More anon. Tim riley (talk) 23:40, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

All now attended to. Warmest thanks for these helpful suggestions. Tim riley (talk) 16:05, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

Comments Well done. I've read Ring Resounding, and remember the discussion of the sound effects in Das Rheingold (Donner's hammer, the gold being piled up by the Nibelungen, etc.) Here are a few comments:

• Early years:

" failing to pass the examination in banking theory" Perhaps it would be wise to stress that the examination was set by the Bank. If it was.

Good. Done.

• Decca:

"he produced the first LP versions of Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company" Now, you Brits sometimes unexpectedly exclude the "the", but shouldn't this be "the Savoy Operas"?

Yes indeed. Done.

More coming, did not mean to hit "save page".--Wehwalt (talk) 18:37, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

• Capitol

" company's bureaucracy at its headquarters in Los Angeles." Clunky string of dependent clauses trailing off which ought to be settled with a string of adjectives. Say "bureaucracy at the company's Los Angeles headquarters".

Yes. Done.

"the soprano Kirsten Flagstad" Obviously Flagstad was a controversial figure in the postwar period. Culshaw, as I recall, discusses this in Ring Resounding Did Capitol's reluctance to take her on have anything to do with that?

The main cause was that Culshaw's boss at Capitol had a phobia about opera. He even suggested that the Paris Opéra orchestra, which Culshaw had under contract, should be billed on the record sleeves as the Paris Academy orchestra, because the public wouldn't buy anything with the word "opera" in.

• Stereo

"Finding, on his return to Decca, that" I'd delete both commas.

Done. Better.

"he was made manager of the company's classical recording division" Did Lewis have anything to do with this? If so I'd mention.

None of the sources actually say so, but Lewis ran Decca as an autocrat, and we can reasonably assume that Culshaw's promotion was Lewis's choice. Culshaw's predecessor in the role, Victor Olof, defected to EMI, and Culshaw was hastily appointed to fill his place.

Gramophone quote. I'd write before the quote when this quote appeared. I assumed it was contemporary, realized at the end of the quote it was not, and had to reread.

Good! Just the sort of thing one never spots in one's own prose. Done.

"Todesverkundigung". Surely it should be italicised? And perhaps it should be translated as well. I think I remember which scene that is, near the end of Act II, but if someone who has seen the Ring live six times can't remember ...

It is indeed from Act II (scene 4) where Brünnhilde comes to warn Siegmund that he's for the chop. I suppose the nearest translation would be "Death Announcement", but that sounds a bit like something in the classified ads of the newpapers. I'm not sure about the italicisation: on the (rocky) analogy of arias in conventional operas I'd say quotes but not itals, but am wholly biddable on this.

"In the early years of stereo, " Might be more effective if you said "those early years of stereo".

Definitely.

"– as in his other operatic recordings including Richard Strauss's operas Salome and Elektra, also with Solti and Nilsson –" I think you are straying too far from the point in this dashed clause and should cut it after "recordings", perhaps the rest of the info could be put in later.

This was another editor's addition, which I wasn't wild about and will happily delete.

While you do in an image caption, you nowhere mention Solti was a conductor ...

There was passing mention in re the Walküre Act III set, but I have added another to the Capitol Brahms Requiem sentence.

• Britten etc.

Might do well to mention that the War Requiem was done for the consecration of that eyesore.

Done.

Surely the first two sentences of the van Karajan paragraph can be combined?

That would make a hellishly long sentence, though.

"Other artists with whom he worked for ..." Your mileage may vary, but I'm not thrilled about laundry list sentences.

Point taken. I've chopped it up a bit. I want to make the point that Culshaw worked with a wide range of performers, not just the Wagner specialists.

• Later years:

" to television, becoming BBC Television's head of music programmes." No need to repeat the word television, just say ... from the record industry to become BBC Television's head ..."

Yes.

" universities of Houston, Southern California and Melbourne." I don't think this is a proper way of referring to them. Perhaps "the University of Houston, USC, and Melbourne University".

Done, though that's four occurrences of the word "university" in one sentence.

Ooh, he had an OBE? Shouldn't you mention this either as a postnominal of the lede mention of his name or else on his picture caption?

Unless it's compulsory I'd rather not for a tuppeny-ha'penny gong like the OBE, but if I must, I will, obviously.

• Publications

If A Place of Stone was published, you should say so.

Yes. Done.

I'm not thrilled about the list of musical publications, it is another "laundry list". At the least, I would take out the publishers, and perhaps it should be placed in its own section as a short list. Editor discretion though.

Good point about the publishers. It isn't such a very long list, and though I personally prefer bulleted lists, WP seems not to like them within articles.

Again, a good read about someone whose book I had read but I doubt I've thought about in a long time.--Wehwalt (talk) 19:20, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Most grateful for these points. Many thanks. Tim riley (talk) 10:40, 23 December 2010 (UTC)