D. Stephen Heersink wrote:

>There appears to be price elitism among those who disparage Naxos.  The
>label charges only $5 per disc; therefore, it cannot be really good.  Oh,
>the contrary.  Even the snooty American Record Guide must occasionally
>break down and admit that Naxos recordings are very good (of course,

Well, I've been writing for ARG since last year and I've been called a lot
of things, but snooty is not one of them.  Pedantic, maybe, overbearing,
certainly, gross (occasionally), a chronic griper (all the time) but how
snooty can an ex-jock, bass trombonist who lives in a two-flat, drives a 13
year old car (very rarely at that, and I hate SUVs), owns a 15 year old TV,
has two "mongrel" cats (sorry, guys--all right, I did name them Alice and
Edward after the Elgars) and works in a city library be? Not to mention one
who has as many typos in his posts as I do.  I've never heard ARG called
that either.  (I have heard other journals, including some named by Mr.
Heersink, called that--unfairly, I might add, and I have never called them
that myself.)

Oh yes. Naxos. In a recent post in this thread, I listed 20 or more Naxos
recordings that I own and like very much.

>Fanfare magazine and the Penguin Guide, on the other hand, which much are
>much more proletariat in their thinking, frequently heap praise for many
>of Naxos' fine recordings.

As for Naxos and ARG, I can say two things.  One, in the past few months
and upcoming I have reviewed and heaped praises on the following Naxos
recordings in ARG.

Elgar--Falstaff
Sibelius--Symphonies 1 & 3
Walton--Hindemith Variations
Bliss--Miracle in the Gorbals

I also strongly criticized the Elgar-Enigma by Hurst.  I had plenty of
company.

These were all long reviews.  Any editing (if there was any) was
inconsequential and there was no cutting.

I confess that I don't read every review by my colleagues in my own
magazine but I recall that the Vaughan-Williams 7,8 received tremendous
praise.  I recall Vroon's favorable review of the Janacek-Sinfonietta &
Taras Bulba (which I didn't like that much).  I remember Vroon recently
saying he wasn't as turned on by the Piston Violin Concerto disc as some
others, while at the same time noting that another ARG reviewer liked it
very much.  The Strong symphony was praised, I think.  And the Lees? I know
I've seen many other Naxos discs praised.  (This is all off the top of my
grey head.) I've seem some criticized too.

I took the latest issue and found the following reviews of Naxos releases.
They ranged from conditionally favorable to enthusiastic.  (Forgive me if
I mistakenly included one from another label distributed by Naxos--I was
in a hurry.  The only library in the state of Massachusetts that is open
Friday nights is mine.  And guess who is deemed to have so little social
life that he is considered not to be put upon by having to work Friday
nights?)

   Rautavaara--Cantus Arcticus
   Miaskovsky--Sinfonietta 2
   Mendelssohn--Midsummer Night's Dream
   Galazounov--works
   Foote--Piano Quartet
   Crusell--Clarinet Concertos
   Casella--Paganiniana
   Bruckner-Sym 4
   Brahms--Quartets
   Bax--Symphonies (mentioned in review of Thomson set)
   Alfven--works
   Respighi--Concertos
   Rossini--String Sonatas
   Stravinsky--Soldier's Tale
   Vaughan-Williams Sym 5, 9
   Vivaldi--Dresden Concertos
   Walton--Hamlet

Not only should one note how many of these reviews are favorable, but how
many there are, period.  I would hardly call this "occasional." From what
I can see here--I don't claim to have done a thorough study--I cannot see
how ARG can be accused of slighting Naxos, vis a vis other labels, or
denigrating a lot of its releases.

>they are never deemed them the "standard" with Vroon at the helm,
>deprecating almost everything post-1960).

If I am to read this as meaning Don Vroon influences his reviewers'
reported opinions, it is wrong in my experience.  Don Vroon has never
ever ever tried to influence the opinion, judgment or content of any of
my reviews.  Certainly, he admires the great conductors and orchestras he
grew up with--so do I--but I have read many of his reviews that praise more
modern performances.  Ditto with other ARG reviewers.  (Just now I recall
him heaping praise upon the recent Camarata Bruckner series.)

None of this is to be said that ARG, Vroon, or Hecht are beyond criticism.
(I took up criticism because I thought it would be fun to be on the giving
end for a change.) Every publication and writer has strong points and also
weak points that can be criticized.  But that ARG ignores and/or disparages
Naxos as part of some de facto or de jure overall policy is not one of them
as far as I can see.

One other point.  If you mean "standard" to be "best" or nearly so, it
is not hard to believe that Naxos may not win that esteemed designation
terribly often.  There are a lot of recordings out there of the basic
repertoire.  To be a "best" or near best is no simple feat.  If you're
looking at one particular label and concentrating on its not being called
"standard" you're going to be disappointed a lot.  Among the composers you
named where you find Naxos excelling ("Bruckner, Dvorak, Haydn, Prokofiev,
Schubert, Sibelius, Telemann or Vivaldi, or Weber") there is a LOT of
competition, a lot of great recordings, not just those by Naxos.

>Naxos offers stellar performances with excellent sonics at one-third
>Polygram's price, and even more economical when compared to ARG's
>recondite labels.

"Recondite" (from Webster's Third Unabridged) means very difficult to
understand, beyond the reach of ordinary comprehension; or relating to
what is uncommon, abstruse, or profound; unknown or little known.  It might
serve as the antonym for an adjective that would describe Polygram or EMI.

And by the way, Naxos aside, ARG reviews music on all kinds of labels.
I've done Claves, Albany, BBC, CBC, Chandos, MHS, Vanguard; I've seen
plenty of Marco Polo, CPO, and many many others.  The magazine is FULL
of small labels.

>Finally, but by no means least, I have access to a number of wonderful
>composers I never knew existed, much less ever having audited their
>compositions, until the little train that could brought the
>otherwise-obscure to us plebeians.

I love Naxos.  They are great for repertoire and they may be striking a
real blow for economics in the recording industry.  More power to them.
I buy them whenever I can and relish doing so.  Mr. Heersink is right to
praise them, too, I think.  Because I love them, I will treat them like any
other label: I'll praise their good recordings and urge them to do better
with their, shall we say, musically challenged ones.  That's all I've ever
been asked to do with any recording at ARG.

Roger Hecht