I just read Gary Higginson's review of a disc with cello sonatas by Pietro Gaetano Boni (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2009/Mar09/Boni_cds584.htm). He writes: "Speaking of these notes they fail to give Boni’s dates or much in the way of biography. (...) Even if you go on Wikipedia you find almost nothing."
That was giving me the idea to ask what kind of sources you are using for information about music or composers, other than the CD booklets. I assume almost nobody has New Grove on his shelf. Some time ago I found a digital version of the newest edition on the internet and I have downloaded and installed it on my laptop and PC. I use it often and it is really helpful. I was just wondering if it would be a good idea to ask the publisher of New Grove to make its digital edition available to the reviewers of MusicWeb. There must be a way to make it accessible only to the reviewers, with a password or something like that.
I'm curious to know what you think about this.
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I am extremely lucky to have the library of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague at my disposal, both for scores and reference books. Looking stuff up when 'at work' and away from one's review zone is a fag however, and I would leap at the chance to have New Grove on or accessible from my PC.
ReplyDeleteI can access Grove On-Line by typing in my bar-coded membership number on the Lancashire County Council 'Online Reference Library'; who operate the public libraries in my region of England. Some time ago all the editions of the New Grove were mysteriously taken off the shelves in each of the County's libraries and replaced by the 'Online Reference Library'. I guess that other UK residents may be able to access the same on line material at their own UK libraries in the same way.
ReplyDeleteMany public libraries offer the online New Grove (and several other useful reference sources, e.g. Credo Reference) to anyone who has a library card. Simply type the number from your library card into the space on your local library's website and it will give you access.
ReplyDeleteGrove and MGG Musiklexikon are at the local library which used to be across the street and now a short tram ride away. Wikipedia is a surprisingly good source... far superior to Britannica Online to which I have a free membership (and which I find isn't even worth that). Other literature (often the critical commentary in the scores) helps, too. And I have colleagues that are experts in some fields that I'm not... so I call them up.
ReplyDeleteOnline Grove membership would be sweet, though.