Sony Classical's strategy in recent years has been to restructure how
classical music is defined and identified through an expansion of its
traditional base.  The company has had classical artists recording
crossover material or very light music, and non-classical artists have
recorded crossover material as well.  With directions flowing all over the
place, the goal is to make classical music anything that Sony wants to call
it, have the dollar support of the public, and thereby increase profits.
RCA has more recently taken a similar direction.

For me, the above strategy is a "dumbing-down" of classical music, an
exploitation of the public's desire to be part of this new herd.  I find
the whole thing unethical and motivated by simple greed.  The folks in
charge of these manipulations don't seem to love classical music at all;
for them it's just another commodity to squeeze out as many dollars as
possible.  The only way to hinder the success of these tactics is to stay
away from the "hybrid" recordings; however, sales data clearly tells us
that the deceptive and bullying measures of the companies are paying off
handsomely.

Many will continue to buy recordings such as "Simply Baroque" I and II or
the Eroica Trio going baroque, but I will maintain my exclusive interest in
what I consider to be real classical music recordings.  You know which ones
those are - recordings that attempt to provide interpretations of depth and
sincerity, not recordings which are made to "sell".

Don Satz
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