Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness

[rdavenport]

I just finished reading this book (subtitled "The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry"). I am a neophyte in these matters, so wanted to know if anyone has read this and has any opinion.

From reading the Amazon reviews, and a bit on these boards, I see that Lebrecht isn't everyone's cup of tea. For what it's worth, I found the book very interesting. I imagine (because I have no point of reference) that it's rather sensationalist; some of the stories seem a little too good to be true, and Lebrecht's opinions are certainly strongly-held.

If nothing else, it's explained why the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos are always together on record (similar length, same key, and each wrote only one.)

Anyway, any opinions welcome, as are any recommendations for further reading.

[MomsMobley]

Lebrecht is fine and necessary if not always 100% inspired-- but if you're Brit 1) I'm sorry you have to claim goddamn Paul McCartney as your own (not just insipid pop 'legend' but a classical "composer" too!) and 2) you know the wages of Limey journalists and their tendency, among the talented, towards high level hackwork. Lebrecht's biz writing is better than his musicology... I've not read the book you mention--

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maestros-Masterpieces-Madness-Shameful-Classical/dp/0141028513

but if you dig it 1) check his sources and 2) read ** EVERYTHING ** by Nicolas Slonimsky and ** NOTHING ** by scumbags like Richard Taruskin and his ilk. I'd ignore glib hack Alex Ross too and gobble instead any/all Ernest Newman. however "old-fashioned." Don't forget Berlioz and Debussy either.

Use the library for academic/specialist press monographs of what you're interested. Oh, Harold Schonberg makes some riotous fuck-ups but his books are mostly still worth reading for base-line view of American classical establishment. Read everything by Virgil Thomson also, even the "wrong" parts. Also, if you read German or French semi-decently, your musical life will be greatly enriched.

Of musicological types, Paul Griffiths is very good, as are Peter Yates' two books--

I just finished reading this book (subtitled "The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry"). I am a neophyte in these matters, so wanted to know if anyone has read this and has any opinion.

From reading the Amazon reviews, and a bit on these boards, I see that Lebrecht isn't everyone's cup of tea. For what it's worth, I found the book very interesting. I imagine (because I have no point of reference) that it's rather sensationalist; some of the stories seem a little too good to be true, and Lebrecht's opinions are certainly strongly-held.

If nothing else, it's explained why the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos are always together on record (similar length, same key, and each wrote only one.)

Anyway, any opinions welcome, as are any recommendations for further reading.

[mandrill]

"The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry"

That title looks suspiciously sensationalist. If anything is dead it is classical music, not classical record industry. The baroque and renaissance music has been experiencing a true revival and re-evaluation recently and there are many great albums available from independent European labels- Zigzag & Alpha (France), Glossa & Alia Vox (Spain), CPO (Germany)- only to name a few from the top of my head, not to mention giants like Harmonia Mundi. Classical period (say, from Mozart on to Bartok & Stravinsky) is also getting very well documented with new releases coming every week from both majors and independents. People like Casals and Landowska were trailblazers, but i doubt theirs are better recordings of the same works that, say, Gaillard & Queyras, Rousset, Rannou or Hantai is making nowadays. So i'm really curious what "Death of the Classical Record Industry" Mr. Lebrecht can possibly bemoan in his book.

[MomsMobley]

]Mandrill & Lebrecht are both correct-- Lebrecht (in his regular columns) mostly followed the major label classical racket, which today is nearly fucking irrelevant, with the exception big box reissues, a few star turns and a genuinely excellent artist from the tail end of the era, Hillary Hahn. (Someone like Murray Perahia is an abomination, despite making a few records which didn't stink.) French-based EMI/Virgin might be the last 'major' doing anything valuable on a regular basis-- alas! Especially because I want Chabrier "Le Roi Malgre Lui" on cd. Oh, the labial majors-- in conjunction with Euro tv-- do valuable work with opera dvd but that's a rich pill to swallow and motherfucking netflix stopped (or nearly so) acquiring opera and most other classical DVDs years ago, the jerks.

That said, as regular reader of "Repertoire" (RIP), "Classica," and "Diapason," with the exception of Harmonia Mundi, those are all VERY small businesses-- CPO, which I revere in dozens of ways (JC Bach, Herzogenberg, Hindemith, Milhaud, Pfitzner, Reger, Telemann, Toch, Villa Lobos etc etc) is subsidized by their retail side-- much like Bear Family.

MMMMmmm, add Hyperion and BIS the very important indies but how many cds a year does Alia Vox release? Goldberg mag went under though that might have had as much to do unsustainable production costs as lack of interest.

Ophelie Gaillaird's Bach is superb, good call. And you might be the first person to mention Blandine Rannou here though I hope that's not the case.

"The Secret Life and Shameful Death of the Classical Record Industry"

That title looks suspiciously sensationalist. If anything is dead it is classical music, not classical record industry. The baroque and renaissance music has been experiencing a true revival and re-evaluation recently and there are many great albums available from independent European labels- Zigzag & Alpha (France), Glossa & Alia Vox (Spain), CPO (Germany)- only to name a few from the top of my head, not to mention giants like Harmonia Mundi. Classical period (say, from Mozart on to Bartok & Stravinsky) is also getting very well documented with new releases coming every week from both majors and independents. People like Casals and Landowska were trailblazers, but i doubt theirs are better recordings of the same works that, say, Gaillard & Queyras, Rousset, Rannou or Hantai is making nowadays. So i'm really curious what "Death of the Classical Record Industry" Mr. Lebrecht can possibly bemoan in his book.

Edited November 11, 2011 by MomsMobley

[Larry Kart]

Agree on Alex Ross, but Lebrecht is a hack of a different sort, a kind of Hedda Hopper who makes numerous gross factual errors.

[Chuck Nessa]

He is selling boiling pots to folks wanting to learn something. He is a scam. He can be an amusing scam, but.....

[MomsMobley]

right, Lebrecht's flogging dead horse because that's what he knows and that's what people recognize; also there are (were) stories there... what's he gonna write about the REAL major-in-efftect, Naxos? but the vast majority of their artists get only self-serve publicity, beyond the cd being made and in the few stores in the U.S. that still stock them.

as memory of how things were, here's a hep Complete Faure Chamber w/ Strings set on Virgin-- don't have it yet but all involved are hep elsewhere, Brahms esp.

http://www.amazon.com/Faure-Complete-Chamber-Music-Strings/dp/B0057JWUVG

classical music in America is stronger than retail profile suggests, alas because look at all the university music programs (not just elite music schools) where people attend concerts, probably support their probably lame NPR station (NPR itself is despicable, as is most classical programming on local stations, but something like "Performance Today" is nice), etc-- the vast majority of those people have to go mail order only now, nothing even worth browsing at Barnes & Noble unless you need a pilates ball or some shit.

He is selling boiling pots to folks wanting to learn something. He is a scam. He can be an amusing scam, but.....

[MomsMobley]

p/s-- maddeningly expensive but excellent-- that Max Harrison on the genius of Rachmaninoff-- use inter-library loan, it's slow sometimes but works--

The pb, like most Brit paper, is pretty cheap-ass, making the premium price especially galling; publishers were dipshits, they'd have sold at least THREE times the # at half the price and presumably made more money; I was lucky enough to find a copy with cover crease for $20 but I'd much prefer the hardcover.

http://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninoff-Works-Recordings-Max-Harrison/dp/0826493122

[rdavenport]

Thanks everyone - my suspicions of Lebrecht are duly confirmed. Thanks to Moms for all the recommendations for further reading - I'll check some of those out.

[AllenLowe]

I'm completely ignorant in these matters (sorry, there's only 24 hours in the day) but I think we shouldn't under-rate McCartney, who did, indeed, turn to shit as soon as the Beatles broke up. But he did incredible things with that group, and played some of the best guitar solos that George couldn't come up with. His music hall/cornball sensibility needed Lennon's absolute cynicism, however, for him to do his best work,