Rather than dissect the entire article, let me just point to two major fails.
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First, the hallmark of almost every awful review, the bad introduction:
What happens when the family comes home for the holidays?
I don't know about your family, but in my family we drink and make fun of the Irish (Notre Dame, that is).
You laugh, you smile, you fight, you reminisce.
Same difference.
So it was Saturday night when the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra had its aptly named "Homecoming" concert.
Ugh. Terrible.-------------
But, the number one rule of writing classical music reviews is, don't do this:
Conductor Ryan Haskins opened the door for Baron's welcome return by first giving the audience the Polovtsian Dances -- a piece that's instantly familiar. In addition to its inclusion on late night TV commercials ("You know it better as 'Stranger in Paradise'"), it also figured heavily in the musical "Kismet." That instant recognition got the party started and gave oboist Heidi Venaas one more stellar solo this season.
And don't forget when it was used in that great Simpsons' episode where Bart has a fantasy about life in Utah.
Ugh. Terrible. Just terrible.
4 comments:
Recognition "got the party started"? Wow. Why not say the oboe soloist "took it to the hizzy"?
He also finishes off the review with a healthy bit of exaggeration for good measure, speaking of the success of the concert as "filled with moments that others will surely talk about for weeks and months to come."
Because regional orchestra concerts from a month ago are so often the topic of conversation, right?
Also, what's with the quotes inside of quotes inside of a parenthetical aside? Or capitalizing the first word inside of the parentheses?
...("You know it better as 'Stranger in Paradise'")...
Try this:
...(you know it better as "Stranger in Paradise"), ...
Viva editing!
Also, why put quotes around the titles of "Stranger in Paradise" and "Kismet", but not around the titles of the works on the concert? Polovtsian Dances is apparently not quotation worthy.
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