Why are some recordings issued?

[Todd]

I'm big fan of Friedrich Gulda.  His Beethoven (the Amadeo cycle) is one of the greatest achievements in recorded history.  His Bach, Ravel, Debussy, hell, even his Schubert and Mozart are all excellent or great.  But I had misgivings about Gulda in Chopin.  His style just doesn't seem a good fit.  This new twofer confirms that, for me at least. 

Some of the pieces are not good at all, most conspicuously the sample of Nocturnes and the swift but cool Waltz in E minor.  The Ballades all come off as (extremely well played) virtuoso exercises and not much else.  The Preludes are pretty good at times, but inconsistent, which owes more to the fact that Paul Gulda mixed and matched two different concerts than to the playing.  The Barcarolle is just sort of there.  The only successful piece is the First Piano Concerto with Adrian Boult and the LPO, though even this is second-tier stuff.  The last work in the set is a forgettable and somewhat unpleasant work by the pianist himself, the Epitaph für eine Liebe, mixing Chopin's C minor prelude, poems, and a Gulda song, with Gulda himself singing.  Most of the recordings are from the mid-50s, and sound good enough for their vintage and provenance, and the few recordings from the 80s are better sounding. 

The young Gulda's playing cannot be faulted as a display of digital dexterity, but the musical qualities I look for in Chopin are mostly absent.  I rather wonder why this was released, other than for possible income, which I cannot imagine will be high.  (Others may feel differently of course, but no one can tell me this is top drawer Chopin or top drawer Gulda.) 

[Scarpia]

Gulda has something of a cult following, the release would be extremely inexpensive to produce, and as a result any revenue would be all profit.  Do they need any other reasons?

[Todd]

and as a result any revenue would be all profit.

Even being cheap to produce, I don't see this as a big seller, so the profits will be somewhat limited on an absolute basis.  Even if 20,000 units sell, that's only about $200K or so to be distributed to the company and family and other hangers-on - not exactly a princely sum, and not a huge profit generator.  And it doesn't bolster Gulda's image, at least for me.  Why not repackage all of his old studio recordings and reissue in one of the silly big boxes?  That would be better in my estimation.

[Scarpia]

Even being cheap to produce, I don't see this as a big seller, so the profits will be somewhat limited on an absolute basis.  Even if 20,000 units sell, that's only about $200K or so to be distributed to the company and family and other hangers-on - not exactly a princely sum, and not a huge profit generator.  And it doesn't bolster Gulda's image, at least for me.  Why not repackage all of his old studio recordings and reissue in one of the silly big boxes?  That would be better in my estimation.

The average classical release sells 4000 units, if I recall correctly.  The labels stay afloat by having many releases all selling at a slow steady level.  The sales levels you hypothesize would be a big deal, I think.

However, I have noticed that DG has done very little of the "bargain box" marketing that we have seen a lot of from other companies, notably EMI.  Maybe they should, but perhaps they fear saturating the market and hurting future sales.

[eyeresist]

Even being cheap to produce, I don't see this as a big seller, so the profits will be somewhat limited on an absolute basis.  Even if 20,000 units sell, that's only about $200K or so to be distributed to the company and family and other hangers-on - not exactly a princely sum, and not a huge profit generator.

Profit is profit, something too many publishers fail to understand these days in their search for the next big hit.