Roger Hecht writes (in part):

>Obviously, when you can produce a fine recording at a fraction of the
>price of one put out by the London Symphony,or more so, moneywise, Berlin
>or a major American orchestra, you'll do it.The downside is the effect on
>the so called majors who are relegated to making very few recordings
>nowadays.

I wonder whether that means that in the process the buyer of "bargain"
recordings is encouraging a drop of quality in the market overall.  S/he
may be.  But whether this is to the advantage of musicians playing in
cheaper bands and to the disadvantage of "expensive" band musicians is
a problem of calculus.  Some of the topmost orchestras are generously
subsidized and pay accordingly.  A first chair in Vienna or Berlin draws
the salary of a very highly placed ciivil servant, plus the priivilege
of enriching this with outside work.  The relatively modest cut from
recordings isn't incentive enough to make such players consider changing
to the other side.  That means they are not motivated to raise the level of
performance there.  No doubt the Slovak Philharmonic/Symphony or the one in
Zagreb can give you a cheaper Dvorak, but can they deliver as good a Dvorak
as, say, the Viennese, or even the Bamberger--well, I dunno.  That's why I
think that Naxos is dandy, but....

Denis Fodor                     Internet:[log in to unmask]