Nathan Lofton asks:

>It's interesting to see some renewed interest in Classical music from
>one of the big record companies, but I have to ask the question: is this
>really what classical music needs to get going again?  Do we really need
>more recordings of Beethoven 5, Dvorak 9, and Mozart 40?  The article
>gives the impression that that's what BMG Masterworks is intent on doing.
>I personally feel that that's the last thing classical music needs.

I agree, and the really strange thing is that Sony will compete against
itself.  The classic mistake was made by British Decca: it released a
Ring cycle with Dohnanyi and the Cleveland as it competed with its own
Solti version.  The Dohnanyi project never got beyond the first two
operas, as a result.  It's not that the Dohnanyis were terrible; in fact,
I thought them among the most outstanding recordings I'd heard of the
operas.  But why commit to such an expensive project, when your own
recording is still selling like gangbusters?

Furthermore, there aren't that many conductors today worth recording
in the standard rep.  I still don't know why Levine gets work, and the
same goes for several others.  Does anybody look forward to Spano's
Brahms cycle, as good a conductor as he is, when you can get Furtwaengler,
Szell, Celibidache, Giulini, Horenstein, Markevitch, Kubelik, Stokowski,
Toscanini, and Walter?

Steve Schwartz