The Composer Gallery offers access, as per the website blurb, to “quick and easy reference guides to the all-time great composers”. As with any claim of this nature there is a sense of arbitrariness as to who is selected for this list of all-time greats. It is interesting to note that composers such as John Cage or Arnold Schoenberg are mentioned in articles as influences on other composers, see the articles on John Adams or Igor Stravinsky, but, as of yet, neither Cage not Schoenberg have their own page. Additionally, the breadth of composers is somewhat arbitrary in that Alban Berg is given his own spot but neither Arnold Schoenberg nor Anton Webern are given biographical space. Since Berg, Schoenberg and Webern spent significant amounts of time together it is rather suspect to fail to include direct influencers or peers of a particular composer while claiming to host reference guides to the all-time great composers. It is additionally interesting that, typically, in these profiles the more modern composers such as Adams or Williams have substantially more biographical material in both detail and substance than composers such as Bach, Beethoven or Mozart. Adams or Williams should receive their due but this discrepancy highlights a lack consistency in the quantity of information across profiles. The sheer amount of ink that has been spilled on Bach and Beethoven should warrant substantive biographical material in a site that claims to provide reference guidance.
The flow of the composer's biographical information, fun facts, etc. is logical and easy to follow. However the biographical information displayed is inconsistent from composer to composer and the highlighted details do not overtax the reader with information. The listening links and video are helpful additions. This reviewer appreciated that the included videos and listening links allow the reader to get a sampling or taste of what characterized a particular composer's sound or style. There is a breadth of performers which helps the reader to see historical development or relevance of that composer's particular works. For example, J.S. Bach's profile has a video of Chris Thile playing the E Major Prelude on mandolin. The best of each composer profile is the recommended biography section. The site is easy to navigate. Users can locate composer's profiles by selecting the letter corresponding to the composer's last name. Users can also search composers by their related musical period via a drop down menu. Selecting the particular area loads the composers tagged with that musical period allowing users to see all of the composers from a particular time period. Composers are listed alphabetically by last name.
The weakest point of the Composer's Gallery is the general lack of citations or sources for the biographical information or the “Fun Facts”. The arbitrary nature of the Fun Facts does not give the reader confidence as to their historical accuracy. The lack of source material only increases the reader's scepticism of the truth of the claim. The reader who is interested in tracking down any of these facts is not provided with any type of starting point. The site's claim that if reader is “writing a research paper […] this is the first stop on your web search” is hard to take seriously if the site fails to cite its sources.
The amount of information provided on most of the composers is far less than the information provided in the composer's page in Wikipedia. Frankly, this reviewer feels the interested reader would be better served navigating to the Wikipedia page for the composer in question than Composer Gallery. Wikipedia provides sources, hyperlinks and further reading suggestions, in addition to a greater amount of information on the life, works and influence of the composer.
In conclusion, the Composer Gallery claims to provide popular information on popular composers. The composer selection is somewhat arbitrary. The information provided about the composers is less than robust and there is no sense of consistency or rigour from one profile to the next. The one area that would cause this reviewer to guardedly recommend the site is the short list of video and music links provided in each profile. Unfortunately, the Composer Gallery fails to match Wikipedia in depth or breadth of information on the composer. It is difficult to recommend the relatively anaemic composer biographies in Composer Gallery in contrast to the most robust Wikipedia entries. Composer Gallery fails to live up to its own advertising of serving as a place to begin a research paper or as a reference guide.
