Classical music critic too critical?
September 26th, 2008 by Rodney Carmichael in Music newsWhile print reporters of every stripe continue to get squeezed out of newspapers suffering from reduced ad sales and readership losses, classical music critics have been particularly hard hit as papers attempt to target younger readers.
But rarely, if ever, have we heard of a classical music critic being reassigned because he was, uh, too critical.
Apparently, that’s what happened to Donald Rosenberg, according to a recent article in The New York Times. Cleveland Orchestra supporters have chastised Rosenberg — the classical music critic for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland — for his harsh criticism of the orchestra’s maestro, Franz Welser-Möst. And after covering the orchestra for 28 years (16 at The Plain Dealer), he’s been “removed from the symphony beat.”
By Mr. Rosenberg’s account he met with Ms. Goldberg, who has been editor of the paper for a little over a year, on Sept. 17. “She called me in and said they were making a change, and I would no longer be covering the Cleveland Orchestra,” Mr. Rosenberg recounted.
She told him that the “situation had become untenable for the newspaper,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “She said my reviews were unfair, and I was attacking the orchestra.” Ms. Goldberg also said that she wanted broader coverage of the orchestra, he added. “I don’t know what that means. In the 16 years I’ve been here I’ve written every kind of story imaginable.”
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