Talk:Charles-Valentin Alkan/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Tim riley (talk · contribs) 13:33, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

Beginning first read-through. More soonest. At first glance the article looks more like an FAC than a GAN, but I'll continue with the job in hand. Tim riley (talk) 13:33, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

This article is so plainly destined for FAC that I hope you will excuse a more pernickety list of comments than would ordinarily be justified at GAN. It will save time at FAC, where I can join Tennyson's "chorus of indolent reviewers", having had my say here. It's a short list of quibbles, in any case, and nothing in it is of enough consequence to prevent my immediately promoting this impressive article, which I shall do at the end of this. That's my lot. Nothing to cause alarm and despondency, and certainly nothing to prevent the immediate promotion of this very fine piece of work to GA.
 * General
 * Quotation marks: you sometimes favour doubles and sometimes singles, and it isn't obvious why. I'd follow the MoS and stick to doubles except for quotations within quotations. Words in singles at present include 'hero', 'military', 'blow-by-blow' and 'classical', all in the music sections. There are others.
 * Lead
 * "amongst" (here et passim) – I never know what this word has that "among" hasn't; it seems to me to lend a slightly fusty air to one's prose.
 * [Deeply disappointed that the bookcase was a fiction! Another illusion shattered].
 * Prodigy
 * "later to become his professional enemy" – I don't find anything later in the article to justify the "enemy". You tell us that Alkan was much put out at being bumped for the professorship, but not that he exhibited enmity to Marmontel. Nor vice versa: Marmontel seems from your text to have gone out of his way to show respect to Alkan.
 * Early fame (1831–1837)
 * "he first met with Frédéric Chopin" – I recognise a losing battle when I see one, but I will maintain in articulo mortis that this is an Americanism: in UK English one meets with abstract things like disaster, approval etc, but just meets people
 * At the Square d'Orléans
 * "at just 25 years old" – I'd lose the "just" and let the figure speak for itself
 * "whilst his more mature works" – as with "amongst", I always press the superiority of plain "while"
 * "the highly original sonata" – I don't doubt it, but does the cited source justify the "highly original"?
 * Style
 * "Ronald Smith points out" – slightly loaded term, implying that Smith is stating an incontrovertible fact. Something like "remarks", "maintains" or "comments" would be more neutral
 * Reception and legacy
 * Isidore Phillipp was Isidor (without an e) earlier.

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria


 * 1) Is it reasonably well written?
 * A. Prose quality:
 * B. MoS compliance:
 * 1) Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
 * A. References to sources:
 * B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:
 * C. No original research:
 * 1) Is it broad in its coverage?
 * A. Major aspects:
 * B. Focused:
 * 1) Is it neutral?
 * Fair representation without bias:
 * 1) Is it stable?
 * No edit wars, etc:
 * 1) Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?
 * A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:
 * B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass or Fail:

I look forward to meeting M. Alkan again at FAC. Please let me know when you take him there. – Tim riley (talk) 16:26, 11 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Very many thanks for this! Sorry about the bookcase - a story which, as they say in Italy, se non è vero, è ben trovato. I will take up the points you list over the next day or two. Best, --Smerus (talk) 17:16, 11 June 2013 (UTC)