Marshall P. Baron - Music Critiques

Music Critiques

Almost as much as painting, music was a dominant force in Marshall Baron's life. His knowledge and appreciation of classical music were encyclopaedic and profound and his impact on the musical life of the city of Bulawayo was incalculable.

Derek Hudson, Conductor of the Bulawayo Philharmonic Orchestra, wrote on Marshall's death in 1977 that he regarded him "as the most articulate and authoritative voice in Southern Africa when it came to writing crits." And Basil Kaufman, a leader in the community, said: "Marshall's regular critiques in The Chronicle from 1962 - 1977 on concerts and on the performances of visiting musicians of international repute would have graced the pages of leading newspapers in the major cities of the world and were literary masterpieces in their own right".

A quote from John Russell, former art critic at the New York Times brought vividly to my mind the music critiques written by Marshall Baron. "I do not see my role as primarily punitive”, Russell wrote in “Reading Russell". "There are artists whose work I dread to see yet again, dance-dramas that … have set back the American psyche several hundred years, composers whose names drive me from the concert hall, authors whose books I shall never willingly reopen. But it has never seemed to me much of an ambition to go through life snarling and spewing."

Baron, like Russell, was an appreciator who shared his knowledge, his enthusiasms and his love of music. As a result his music critiques were genteel and compassionate and full of encouragement for the musicians as well as packed with insights and information on music.

His style of writing was never trite and mundane. His critiques expressed the emotions and sentiments that music aroused in him, and they were grounded in his deep understanding of compositions and their composers.

Baron became interested in music as a child. He formed a music appreciation club at the age of 11 and later also formed one at university residence. I used to watch him stand on a home-made podium with his baton and conduct with vitality and conviction the masterpieces of great composers. In those youthful years I felt that he yearned to be a conductor.

Marshall's passion for music was indivisible from his artistic creativity and brush. He said of himself: "Music influences me greatly in the flow of colour and rhythm in my paintings". And "I try to intensify people's feelings about a particular subject or situation".

In the following pages we share with you some of Marshall’s music critiques.