http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/arts/music/30gold.html
[I would have posted only the link, but nytimes.com insists on forcing
an unwanted advertisement on me every time I try to go to this site
afresh. So why should I respect them when they don't respect us?]
November 30, 2004
CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
Amid Dire Predictions, Classical Records Flower
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Early this year the polemical British cultural critic Norman
Lebrecht came out with what he called a "rock-solid prediction"
that the year 2004 would be the last for the classical record
industry. Though Mr. Lebrecht's dire prediction was absurd,
his grim overall take on the field resonated. The major
recording companies have been mired in financial crises for
years, and some clueless leaders at the major labels have
only made things worse.
After shedding staff and floundering artistically for years,
two former behemoths in the industry, BMG Classics and Sony
Classical, merged this year. Clearly the merger hasn't solved
the problem. The combined company recently announced an
additional 25 percent cut in staff at its offices in Germany.
These labels are the humbled remnants of companies that once
maintained the most distinguished catalogs in the business,
RCA and Columbia. Could Peter Gelb, the president of Sony
Classical, be jumping ship by accepting the post of general
manager of the Metropolitan Opera starting in 2006?
Sounds bad, right? Yet I have seldom had so many exciting
and important new classical music recordings come across my
desk as in the last year or so.
Major labels like EMI Classics are championing contemporary
music, as with the new recording of Messiaen's visionary
"Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela," his last major orchestral score, in
an exhilarating performance by Simon Rattle and the Berlin
Philharmonic. Smaller labels are releasing invaluable
explorations of the masters, like the mezzo-soprano Lorraine
Hunt Lieberson's sublime program of Handel arias and cantatas
with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by
Harry Bicket on Avie. Koch International Classics showed
that sizable companies are still open to offbeat projects of
special interest, like the pianist Sara Davis Buechner's
lovely program of piano works by the operetta composer Rudolf
Friml, surprisingly fine music and a labor of love from Ms.
Buechner.
Despite the financial struggles in the industry, it feels as
if we are in the midst of a golden age of classical recording.
So what's going on?
Several things, no doubt. Being forced to cut back production
drastically has made label executives come up with projects
that matter, recordings that truly contribute to the discography.
"Smaller is better" may be a cliche, but that approach has
paid off for the classical recording industry.
Perhaps for once the free market is working the way it is
supposed to. At the smart labels, the shift of thinking
recalls the golden days in book publishing when distinguished
houses had small lists of authors they believed in, and they
took the time to nurture and promote their works. Today
publishing companies release far too many books, hoping that
one will be a surprise best seller, like "The Perfect Storm"
and "The Da Vinci Code," and cutting losses from books that
don't catch on right away.
Among the major classical labels, EMI has had the smartest
reaction to the financial challenges. The company has made
choices among artists, choosing not to extend the contract
of the tenor Roberto Alagna and making a major commitment to
the remarkable young Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. Fans
of Mr. Alagna may question the company's choices, but at
least EMI is making them and standing by its artists.
Though for 20 years the market has had a glut of the same
core repertory, EMI understands when an artist has something
fresh to say about familiar works, as with Mr. Andsnes's
most recent release, joyous and sparkling accounts of two
Mozart piano concertos (No. 9 in E flat and No. 18 in B
flat), with Mr. Andsnes conducting the Norwegian Chamber
Orchestra. Manfred Eicher, the principled producer at the
Munich-based label ECM, who has released bracing recordings
of contemporary music, has also made valuable contributions
to the standard repertory, as with its release of the first
book of Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier," played by the Austrian
pianist Till Fellner, a lucid, sensitive and refined performance.
In earlier times it was essential for an artist to have an
exclusive contract with a recording company, though such
relationships are rarer today. Deutsche Grammophon has made
a long-term commitment to the splendid young Russian soprano
Anna Netrebko, whose recent "Sempre Libera" is a radiantly
sung program of Italian arias with the great Claudio Abbado
conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
But the soprano Deborah Voigt is proving that with the right
management and a sense of mission, you can steer yourself
into projects without having an exclusive contract with a
major label. This year EMI released Ms. Voigt's "Obsessions,"
a program of arias and scenes from her signature Wagner and
Strauss roles, sung gloriously, with Richard Armstrong
conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. But also
this year, Deutsche Grammophon issued Ms. Voigt's first foray
into the role of Isolde in a live recording of Wagner's
"Tristan und Isolde" from the Vienna State Opera, with Thomas
Moser as Tristan, conducted with breathtaking intensity by
Christian Thielemann.
Which brings up the issue of live recordings. A large market
for complete opera recordings still exists, but these mammoth
projects have become prohibitively expensive, especially in
the United States, where the prospect of paying unionized
orchestra musicians for the required number of studio sessions
has ended many projects at their conception.
But as recording costs have soared, so has the capability of
recording technology. Today, with digital editing techniques,
a single wrong note or off-pitch tone can be replaced with
the right one from another take. Consequently, more and more
companies have begun to record operas and major symphonic
works live, with the final edit compiled from several
performances. The new "Tristan und Islode" offers arresting
evidence of how successful this so-called compromise can be.
Moreover, the trend among major orchestras to compensate for
the timidity of the major labels by releasing and distributing
their own recordings on their own labels continues. LSO Live,
the recording outlet of the London Symphony Orchestra, has
just issued a spirited new performance of Verdi's "Falstaff,"
conducted by Colin Davis, recorded live last spring at the
Barbican in London. Similarly the San Francisco Symphony has
just released Michael Tilson Thomas's bold account of Mahler's
Symphony No. 2, with the rich-voiced soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian
and the affecting Ms. Hunt Lieberson as soloists.
Any notion that these ventures into self-produced recordings
are just an experiment should be quashed by the latest entrant,
the Boston Pops. Long a cash cow for the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, the Pops has just issued its first self-produced
and self-distributed CD, "Sleigh Ride," a Christmas album
conducted by Keith Lockhart.
In addition, the smaller labels are responding with heartening
creativity to the business challenges in the industry and the
cutbacks by the majors. Highlights this year include Nonesuch's
"Voices of Light," a program of vocal works by Messiaen,
Debussy, Faure and Osvaldo Golijov, sung exquisitely by the
soprano Dawn Upshaw, accompanied by the elegant pianist Gilbert
Kalish. There is a gripping new release of orchestral works
by Steve Reich, performed by the dynamic conductor David
Robertson and the Orchestre National de Lyon, from Naive.
And Naxos, the invaluable and adventurous budget label, may
get top honors for the most significant contribution of the
year with its release of William Bolcom's setting of William
Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience," 46 poems by
William Blake, in a live performance by the University of
Michigan School of Music Orchestra and Chorus. This work,
with over two hours of Mr. Bolcom's poly-stylistic music,
is surely his masterpiece.
It is still hard to know how things will fare with the
smaller-is-better approach at the major labels and the current
trends toward self-producing among major orchestras. Also,
distribution via the Internet is already transforming the
role of retailers. In 10 years the classical recording
business may look quite different from the way it does now.
But despite the naysaying, the business will adapt and survive.
Meanwhile I can hardly find enough time to listen to all the
discs that have come out during this golden era of classical
music recording. Maybe I'll listen again to the blazing new
Philips recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4 with
Valery Gergiev conducting the Kirov Orchestra in a live
performance. Or the pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard's revelatory
and pianistically stunning account of Ives's "Concord" Sonata
on Warner Classics. Or. ...
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
- seb
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