A Fan of Biber? Since 1998, I have been publishing content online through weblogs to share my passion for music, technology, and cuisine. This website is dedicated towards the review of baroque and classical music, and musings on the performance of music and whatever else suits my interests. John Hendron is curator of the site, having discovered the music of Bach and others in the late 1980s.
Why do you like (the) music?
I fell victim as the Web emerged in the late 1990s to finding reviews of recordings and when you’re a collector, you’re interested in what others are thinking about recordings. I wanted to share my own, and the blog format makes that easy. Of course, I could write reviews for other websites or even online vendors. But I wanted a place to collect all of my thoughts on music.
How do you evaluate a recording?
I have no interest in helping someone sell more recordings, or to try and restrict the sale of recordings. That’s what I’d be doing if I posted everything to “an Amazon.com,” or other site. I tend to comment on the quality of the music, but that’ really of third-tier importance.
- The performance itself. How did the soloist or ensemble do?
- The sound quality of the recording? This varies a lot more than it should. And if affects how we listen and enjoy the music, I think.
- The music itself.
What are your favorites?
The majority of what I enjoy is baroque (1600-1750), then jazz, then classical, and renaissance. I also like modern minimalism, such as Glass and Reich.
How did you get into this music?
Among my favorite composers are Bach, Vivaldi, Biber, Telemann, and even Mozart and Beethoven. I took piano lessons since the age of 5, and by the time the family got our first CD player, I found myself checking out some classical CDs from the local public library. It was then–in1988–that I popped in a CD of Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert playing Bach harpsichord concertos that I was hooked. I couldn’t take the headphones off.
Since that half-year before starting high school, I’ve been listening to baroque music especially. A bachelor’s degree in music widened my appreciation further, although I never really got into full-on Romantic composers. Serialism really isn’t my thing, either.
Opera? Not so much. I like vocal music, but more often than not I like instrumental music.
Are you a practicing musican today?
Sadly, not much. I studied the trombone from 1984-1999, but today I only play for myself privately on the piano. I have also studied music composition, theory, music history, and conducting. At one point I was planning on getting an advanced degree in conducting.
How serious is this site and your writings?
Not terribly much so. The natural critic in me likes to analyze things, from food, to writing, and more. Music is a natural thing to be critical of, because it’s multifaceted. There’s the idea, the contribution from the performer, and that which we must separate which was supplied by the composer. Performing music is a complex collaboration, and in the case of Baroque music, between a dead composer, an ancient text, and a historical record of performance practice.
I could certainly take more careful time to listen and to really craft excellent reviews. Occasionally I’m so moved and take more time. But I write here as a hobby. I want to get out what I think in a basic form, and I enjoy reading the reflections of those both serious (critics who write for a living) and more casual enthusiasts who publish online.
Contact
You may contact me via e-mail at: biberfan at biberfan.org.
Media Management
This bit of information might be of interest to some readers. I’m an audiophile wanna-be, I’ve spent some money on my listening equipment, but not so much that it required a second mortgage on the house.
I have four primary venues for listening.
- My car. My iPhone takes compressed tracks via the headphone port into my car via a copper cable.
- My computer/home office. The digital TOSlink output of my MacPro serves up roughly 1000+ albums, at about 240 GB of data. This is my main library, and the music is fed into a Channel Islands Audio DAC (VDA-2). I use a Rotel RA-970BX integrated amp that was a graduation present from my parents. I use Sennheiser 650HD cans, and B&W 602 bookshelf speakers.
- My family room, sometimes called the Salon de Musique is also digital, where a copy of the main iTunes library is located on a MacMini computer. This headless computer is controlled via iOS devices in the house, and again feeds content through to a BelCanto DAC3. I currently employ both a USB connection and also use a WireWorld glass TOSlink cable to the DAC. This also operates as a preamp into Channel Islands D100 monoblock amps, a class D amplifer. I currently connect these to my B&W 703 floorstanding speakers.
- I also sometimes listen via headphones to my iPhone or iPad.
Thanks for reading and learning more about me.
