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