Various brief explanatory notesThis page provides just a little bit of extra information about certain words, concepts, and categories used in this website. About the category "artist" used in the playlists Names written in regular script should be interpreted as "composer"; names written in italics should be interpreted as "performer". The purpose of this category is to list pieces by the primary artist associated with them: that is, the person or persons under whose names you would logically search to find the material in question. For example, no one is going to first think of looking under "Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider" for songs by Kraftwerk. And, for better or for worse, the world of "classical" music recording has a long history of privileging composers over performers, which I am following for reasons of good librarianship: folks know that it is most efficient to look under Edgard Varèse for "Ionisation," not under Ensemble Intercontemporain or ASKO Ensemble or whomever. In some cases, deciding who's the "primary" associated artist (usually because the performers have great notoriety) requires a judgment call, and because of my own biases as well as for consistency's sake I usually continue with the above position -- thus, this category's entry for Ben Johnston's setting of "Amazing Grace" on Kronos Quartet's White Man Sleeps album is listed as Johnston, not Kronos Quartet -- Kronos is listed under "Performers" instead. About the category "performers" used in the playlists When I do not list people in this column, that is usually because either (a) no one but the composer is involved in the performance of the piece (e.g. electronic compositions), or (b) the performer is already represented as the primary artist in the first column of the listing (this is especially true for pop bands and performance collectives). Occasionally it's because I don't know who the performers are, but that is rare. More problematic are the times I do not list all the people who could conceivably be listed. I try to list all the soloists, and whatever ensembles are involved and which conductors, but sometimes just give up and slap on an "et al." This is not intended as a slight to the performers, but simply represents a desire to keep the complexity of the listing to a minimum -- essentially, what you would need in order to go find a recording, check the personnel, and say, "Yep, that's the Ensemble Intercontemporain recording of 'Ionisation' just like I heard on program number so-and-so, all right." About the category "date" used in the playlists Because I have a certain bias in favor of composition over performance (see above), I prefer to list the year that the composition in question was completed; so, the dates written in regular script definitely signify such dates. Occasionally, a work has been sufficiently significantly revised that I will list multiple years (e.g. Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, 1977/1997), though that is rare. However, sometimes such dates are hard to get -- e.g., pop bands compose as they record and remix; some composers eschew divulging such data; etc. -- so then I list, in italics, the most relevant date I can find: the premiere date of the piece, the album release date, whatever seems best. If I'm totally stumped, I leave the date column blank. |