John Smyth <[log in to unmask]> wrote: 

>Hmmm.  Lebrecht's prose is a little over the top.  I can understand
>any Brit having a soft-spot for EMI, and even calling it the "heart of
>English music," but for me, Chandos and Hyperion, Lyrita and Argo did
>much more for my appreciation of English music than EMI.  In any case,
>what more could they do, having recorded the Greatest Works of Everyone
>--three times over.

What little I have read of Lebrecht suggests to me that his writing is
designed to evoke strong responses.  I sometimes think he has made his
mark by being "controversial."

As for EMI being the "heart of English music," I believe it once was.
One can look at the first recordings of the music of Elgar, Delius,
VaughnWilliams, etc.  While I have no statistical information to point
to, it just seems to me that early on, EMI did a better job with English
composers than any US company did with American composers.

I also find it interesting how much Argo, Chandos, Lyrita, et al have
done for English composers and yet no American label has done the same
for US composers.  While Mercury did some remarkable things, it would
seem that the coverage was scant by comparison.  We still don't have all
of the Symphonies by Harris recorded!  The original version of the
Symphonic Ode by Copland has never been recorded!  Unless it is Adams
or Reich or the composer of the moment, we don't even program the music.

Karl (who would love to hear some Sowerby, Hill, Whithorne, Blackwood,
Luke, plus a host of others, in concert and on disc)

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