Musical Pointers

Musical Pointers waslaunched in 2002 with an avowed emphasis on "niche musics" and we thank our readers and contributors who have helped it to grow steadily during the decade. We hope that our way of Musical Pointing will continue to be what readers want? There have been changes in emphasis, with more reports and reviews of recordings from far afie... ld, and coverage of live events which purposely try not to duplicate too much those to be found in the newpaper and magazine outlets and in larger websites such as Music Web (whose live music section Seen & Heard, which is still active, we had founded in 1999). 2013 sees a significant change in our approach to reviewing CDs, which are tending to become overtaken by new technological advances. LINKS are more and more integral parts of our reviews, increasing information and allowing for shorter texts; many people have not enough time to reading lengthy reviews. In particular, we have been enthused by parallel coverage of artists on You-Tube, where many newer musicians can be seen, often at recording sessions. Good examples, at random, are the links to be found on our reviews of the Nightingale String Quartet, pianist Sebastian Stanley, and recorder player Jill Kemp to give a few particular examples. Inevitably this is time consuming,and comes at the expense of our reviewing fewer of the numerous discs received - until we are joined by some new contributors? We have had some fifty contributors all of whom we thank, but currently, with times hard for performing musicians, the weight of work to keep Musical Pointers afloat is increasingly with your Editor, who has to cope with greatly increased requests for coverage of live events, especially of chamber music far and wide around the Metropolis. There has been a particular increase in the popular lunch time concerts, generally an hour long, which attract large audiences and introduce us to numerous excellent younger musicians with more enterprising repertoire than some of the main promoters and venues are inclined to ...Read More