Kevin Sutton wrote:

>For heaven's sake, it's not about the damn covers!  It's about the music.
>As long as the program notes are good, who gives a rat's about what font
>they use?

Personally, I'd rather have a nice looking cd cover than program notes.
So many program notes say little of interest, and I've noticed that when
I have many versions of the same work, the notes get quite repetitive.

>Who's got the winning formula? Klaus 1: Hyperion 0.

If forced to choose between them, I'd have to go with Hyperion.  They have
Robert King who has provided me with some great Handel vocal recordings,
the Salomon Quartet gave me my first appreciation for period instrument
Mozart/Haydn string quartets, and the ever-present Marc-Andre Hamelin.
I don't think Naxos stands up too well when it comes to Baroque music or
classical-era chamber music.  Now I see arrows headed toward me from the
Naxos advocates, but I'm dodging all of them (great reflexes).

Ed Zubrow wrote:

>I think sometimes a good cover can contribute to the experience of a CD
>in much the same way that Kevin Sutton suggests the liner notes do.

One of my first cd's was a disc on EMI Reflexe of D. Scarlatti sonatas
for harpsichord.  The harpsichordist was Robert Woolley who performed
very well.  I've always enjoyed the performances, but that enjoyment was
enhanced whenever I looked at the cd cover while playing the music.  As I
best remember, the cover was "icy" in conception, and the soundstage was
equally frigid.  I found that a great combination.

Back to Naxos, I don't want to end the posting without relating that I buy
an increasing number of their discs as the years pass by.  I like their
romantic-era chamber discs and the early 20th century chamber discs as
well:  Martinu, Bax, Dvorak, Nielsen, Poulenc, etc.  The groups they use
for those recordings keep the "schmaltz" to a minumim.

Don Satz
[log in to unmask]