As I was listening to a borrowed copy of Valery Gergiev's versions of
Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and Alexander Nevsky (Philips), I was startled
to read among the names of the recording producers, the dates and all
the other minutiae:

Valery Gergiev's clothing courtesy of Ermenegildo Zegna.

In one photo he was wearing a rather rumpled-looking dark suit and was
standing against a dark background: hardly a ringing endorsement of the
Zegna label.  In the other - the cover of the Prokofiev piano concertos
- he looked more sartorially elegant but it was a small photo so it was
hard to tell.  Does "courtesy of" mean that Zegna loaned him a suit for
the main photo or does he wear their gear all the time?  Did Zegna pay
to have the credit inserted?  Why was it there anyway?  I don't buy that
many full-price CDs and so I thought this might have been a manifestation
of a subtle advertising campaign aimed at those who do, and I haven't
known about it.  Hollywood, and by extension, the advertising industry,
seem to regard the CM-buying demographic as being made up of people who
are seriously loaded.  If we were all as wealthy as that image suggests,
we wouldn't be telling other listers about where to find a good bargain
CD and the staff at Berkshire would be on a street corner selling pencils.

Perhaps the target audience is other conductors.  The subtext could be
a reminder that there have been occasions when a conductor has made an
impassioned two-handed lunge at the trombones and been hugely embarrassed
to feel the seam in the back of his coat split: this, Riccardo, Claudio,
Lorin or whoever, would never happen with a Zegna coat on your back.

And why stop at suits?  Surely we need credits for the maestro's shoes,
his baton, his hair gel, that little shop in London where he buys bespoke
cummerbunds, the restaurant he goes to when he's in St Petersburg for a
really good reindeer steak.  Or the designer of that gorgeous red number
Renee Fleming is wearing on the cover of her new album.  Or the name of
Barbara Bonney's hair stylist, or Simon Rattle's, if he has one.

Let's hope this idea meets the fate it deserves.

Richard Pennycuick