List of chief music critics

Ernest Newman in about 1905

Western classical music has a substantial history of music criticism, and many individuals have established careers as music critics. However, concert reviews are not always credited in the daily and weekly newspapers, especially those in the early to mid 20th Century. This selective list of chief music critics (or equivalent title or status) aims to make it easier to find the likely author of a review, or at least the influence of the chief music critic on what was covered and how.

List by publication[]

Birmingham Post

Stephen Stratton. Chief music critic, 1877–1906.^[1]
Ernest Newman. Music critic, 1906–1919.^[2]
A J Sheldon (1874-1931). Music critic, 1920-1931
Eric Blom, chief music critic, 1931–1946.^[3]
John F Waterhouse (1950s...?)
Christopher Morley. Chief music critic from 1988.^[4]

The Boston Globe

Michael Steinberg. Chief music critic, 1964–1976.^[5]^[6]
Richard Dyer. Chief music critic, 1976–2006.^[7]
Jeremy Eichler. Chief classical music critic from 2006.^[8]^[9]

Chicago Tribune

George Putnam Upton. Music critic, 1861-1881.
Frederick Grant Gleason. Music critic, 1884-1889.
John von Rhein. Music critic, 1978-2018.^[10]

Daily Express

Francis Toye. Leader writer, then music critic, 1922-1925.^[11]
Arthur Jacobs. Music critic, 1947-1952.^[12]
Noel Goodwin. Music and dance critic from 1955, music editor from 1965–1978.^[13]

Daily Mail

Richard Capell. Chief music critic, 1911–1933.^[14]
Edwin Evans. Chief music critic, 1933–1945.^[15]
Ralph Hill. Assistant music critic from 1933, chief music critic (1945–1948).^[16]
Percy Cater. Music critic, 1953-1960s.^[17]

Daily News

George Hogarth. Music critic, 1846-1866.
Edward A Baughan. Music critic, c 1904-1910.^[18]
Alfred Kalisch. Music critic, 1912-1933?^[18]

Joseph Bennett in 1910

The Daily Telegraph

Campbell Clarke. Music critic (1855?–1870).^[18]
Joseph Bennett. Chief music critic, 1870–1906.^[19]
Robin Legge. Chief music critic, 1906–1931.^[20]
Herbert Hughes. Music critic, 1911–1932.^[21]
Richard Capell. Chief music critic, 1933–1954.^[14]
Martin Cooper. Music critic from 1950, chief music critic, 1954–1976.^[22]
Peter Stadlen, Music critic from 1959, chief music critic, 1976–85.^[23]
Michael Kennedy. Staff music critic from 1950, joint chief music critic, 1986–2005.^[24]
Geoffrey Norris. Music critic from 1983, chief music critic from 1995–2009.^[25]
Ivan Hewett. Music critic from 2002, chief music critic from 2009.^[26]

Evening News

Mosco Carner. Concert music critic, 1957-1961.^[17]

Evening Standard (known as The Standard, 1827–1904)

Henry Frost. Music critic, 1888-1901.^[18]
Percy Scholes. Music critic, 1913–1920
Barry Millington. Music critic – 2000s

Financial Times

Andrew Porter. Chief music critic, 1953–1972.^[27]
Ronald Crichton. Chief music critic, 1972–1978.^[28]
Andrew Clark. Chief music critic from the late 1990s (now retired).^[29]

Frankfurter Zeitung

Paul Bekker. Chief music critic, 1911–1923

The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian)

George Fremantle. Music critic, 1867-1895.^[18]
Arthur Johnstone. Chief music critic, 1896–1904.^[30]
Ernest Newman. Music critic, 1905–1906.^[2]
Samuel Langford. Chief music critic, 1906–1927.^[31]
Neville Cardus. Chief music critic, 1927–1940.^[32]
Colin Mason. Music critic, 1950-1964.^[33]
Edward Greenfield. Record critic from 1955, music critic from 1964, chief music critic from 1977–1993.^[34]
Andrew Clements. Chief music critic from 1993.^[35]
Tom Service. From 1999-2003?

The Independent

Bayan Northcott. Chief music critic, 1986–2009.^[36]
Edward Seckerson. Chief classical music and opera critic (c.2009–2012).^[37]

Los Angeles Daily News

Richard Ginell. Chief music critic, 1978–1990

Los Angeles Times

. Chief music critic, 1947–1965^[38]
Martin Bernheimer. Chief music and dance critic, 1965–1996.^[39]
Mark Swed. Classical music critic since 1996.^[40]^[41]

The Morning Chronicle

William Ayrton. Honorary musical and literary critic, 1816-26.^[42]
George Hogarth. Music critic, 1834-1844.^[43]
Charles Lewis Gruneisen. Music critic circa 1845-1853.^[44]

The Morning Post

Howard Glover. Chief music critic, 1849–1865.^[45]
Henry Sutherland Edwards. (Followed on from Glover).^[46]
Arthur Hervey. Music critic, 1892-1908.^[18]
Francis Toye. Music critic, 1925–1937.^[47]

Neue Freie Presse (Vienna)

Portrait of Eduard Hanslick, 40 years old

Eduard Hanslick. Chief music critic, 1864–1904.
Julius Korngold. Chief music critic, 1904–1934.^[48]^[49]

New Statesman

W. J. Turner. Music critic, 1915-1940.^[50]
Desmond Shawe-Taylor. Music critic, 1945-1958.^[51]
David Drew. Music critic, 1959 until 1967.^[52]

The New Yorker

Robert A. Simon (1925–1948)
Winthrop Sargeant (1949–1972)
Andrew Porter (1972–1992)
Paul Griffiths (1992–1996)
Alex Ross (1996–present)

New York Daily News

William Zakariasen. Chief classical music critic, 1976–1993

New York Herald Tribune

Henry E Krehbiel (circa 1880–1923).^[53]
Lawrence Gilman (1923-late 1930s).^[54]
Virgil Thomson. Chief music critic, 1940–1954.^[55]
Paul Lang. Chief music critic, 1954–1963.^[56]
Alan Rich. Chief music critic, 1963-8

New York Post

Henry T Finck. Music critic, 1881–1924^[57]
Olga Samaroff. Chief music critic, 1926–1928.^[58]
Harriett Johnson. Chief music critic, 1928–1971.^[59]

Richard Aldrich, c. 1918

The New York Sun

James Huneker (1890s-1900s)

The New York Times

Bailey Seymour. Chief music critic, 1849–1865.^[60]
Frederick A. Schwab. Music critic, 1875-1887.
William James Henderson. Music critic, 1887-1902.
Richard Aldrich. Chief music critic, 1902–1923.^[61]
Olin Downes. Chief music critic, 1924–1955.^[62]
Howard Taubman. Staff writer from 1930, music editor from 1935, chief music critic 1955–1960.^[63]
Harold C. Schonberg. Staff writer, 1950. Chief music critic, 1960–1980.^[64]
Donal Henahan. Staff writer, 1967, then chief music critic 1980–1991.^[65]
Edward Rothstein. Chief music critic, 1991–1995, then critic at large until 2014.^[66]
Bernard Holland. Staff writer from 1980, chief music critic from 1995–2000, then national music critic until 2008.^[67]
Anthony Tommasini. Staff writer from 1996, chief music critic from 2000.^[68]

The New York World

Deems Taylor (1921-27)

The Observer

Ernest Newman. Music critic, 1919.^[2]
Percy Scholes. Music critic, 1920–1925
A. H. Fox Strangways. Chief music critic, 1925–1939.^[69]
William Glock. Music critic, 1934, chief music critic, 1939–45 (but also served in the Royal Air Force).^[70]
Eric Blom. Chief music critic, 1949–1953.^[3]
Peter Heyworth. Chief music critic, 1955–1987.^[71]
Nicholas Kenyon. Chief music critic, 1986–1992.^[72]
Andrew Porter. Chief music critic, 1992-1996.
Anthony Holden. Chief classical music critic, 2000-2008.

San Francisco Chronicle

Alfred Frankenstein. Chief music critic (1934–1964).^[73]
Robert Commanday. Chief music critic, 1964–1993.^[74]^[75]
Joshua Kosman. Music critic since 1988, chief music critic since 1993

San Francisco Examiner

Michael Walsh. Chief classical music critic, 1977-1981.

Saturday Review

William Barclay Squire. Music critic, 1888–1894.^[18]
John F Runciman. Music critic, 1894–1916.^[18]

The Scotsman

Conrad Wilson, chief music critic, 1963–1991.^[76]
Mary Miller. Chief music critic, 1992–1998.^[77]
Stephen Johnson. Chief music critic, 1998–1999.^[78]

The Star

George Bernard Shaw. Music critic, 1888–1889.

Sunday Express

Ralph Hill.(1940s).^[16]

The Sunday Telegraph

John Warrack. Chief music critic, 1961–1972.^[79]
Malcolm Hayes. Chief music critic, 1986–1989.^[80]
Michael Kennedy. Chief music critic, 1989–2005.^[24]

The Sunday Times

Joseph Bennett. (1865–1870).^[46]
Hermann Klein. Music (particularly opera) critic, (1881–1901).
Ernest Newman. Chief music critic, 1920–1959.^[2]
Desmond Shawe-Taylor. Chief music critic, 1958–1983.^[51]
David Cairns, Chief music critic, 1983–1992.^[81]

The Sydney Morning Herald

Roger Covell. Principal music critic, 1960 – late 1990s.^[82]

James William Davison – Pencil sketch of a daguerrotype, c. 1857

The Times

James William Davison. Principal music critic, 1846–1879.^[83]
Francis Hueffer. Chief music critic, 1879–1889.^[84]
J A Fuller Maitland. Chief music critic, 1889–1911.^[85]
H. C. Colles. Assistant music critic, then chief music critic, 1911–1943.^[86]
A. H. Fox Strangways, deputised for Colles (who was on active service) during WW1.^[69]
Frank Howes. Staff writer from 1925, chief music critic, 1943–1960.^[87]
William Mann. Assistant music critic from 1948, chief music critic, 1960–1982.^[88]
Paul Griffiths. Chief music critic, 1982–1992.^[89]
Richard Morrison. Music critic from 1984. Chief music critic from 1992.^[90]

Toronto Star

John Terauds. Classical music critic (2005-2012)
William Littler (current)^[91]

The Yorkshire Post

Ernest Bradbury. Chief music critic, 1947–1984.^[92]
David Denton. Music critic (2000s–2020s).

The Washington Post

Paul Hume. Music editor, 1946-1982.
Joseph McLellan. Chief music critic, mid-1970s–1995.^[93]
Tim Page. Chief classical music critic, 1995–1999, 2001-2008.^[94]
Philip Kennicott. Chief classical music critic, 1999–2001
Anne Midgette. Chief classical music critic, 2008-2019.

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List of chief music critics

Contents

List by publication[]

See also[]

References[]

Further reading[]