First the massive American classics and Spanish classics projects ... then the Liszt piano series ... but now Naxos have really kicked things up a notch with the announcement of 200 new CDs dedicated to "19th Century Violin Music". The project will feature violinists Chloe Hanslip, Philippe Quint, Misha Keylin, Henning Kraggerud, and Friedemann Eichhorn (among others). Among the works expected for release:
Beriot: complete violin concertos and duos
Vieuxtemps: complete violin works (all forms)
Baillot: complete violin concertos ("many of which have not been played for well over a century")
Rode: complete violin concertos
Hubay: complete violin concertos
a complete Sarasate edition
Other concerto recordings: "Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831, 19 Concertos), Felipe Libon (1775-1838, 6 Concertos), Francois Habeneck (1781-1849, 2 Concertos), Alfredo d'Ambrosio (1871-1914, 2 Concertos), Ferdinand David (1810-1873, 5 Concertos), Ludwig Maurer (1789-1878, 9 Concertos), Nicholas Wery (1789-1867, 3 Concertos), Jacques Mazas (1782-1849, 2 Concertos), and numerous others."
Solo violin recordings: "Delphin Alard, Charles de Beriot, Ferdinand David, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, Emile Hait, William Henley, Johannes Kalliwoda, Emile Leveque, Karol Lipinski, Pierre Rode, Napoleon de Saint-Lubin, and many others."
Violin duo recordings: "Jacques Mazas, Francois Habeneck, Federigo Fiorillo, Pierre Rode, and Henryk Wieniawski"
Additional composers in the series include Louis Spohr and Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda.
FULL ARTICLE: http://www.naxos.com/news/default.asp?pn=News&displayMenu=Naxos_News&op=375
All I can say is: wow. I was 10 when the American Classics series was unveiled, so I've never seen or heard of a record company announcing a project of this volume. It's unbelievable. Now what I wonder is: how much of this music will be worthwhile, and how much was justifiably forgotten?
YouTube clip of Naxos recording de Beriot's violin duos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adQUag1Nqi0
Hope this will spawn into a collection of violin concertos to rival Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series. :)
Edit: some reasonably high profile artists on the roster too.
Sounds like fun. Collect them all! ;)
Quote from: Lethe on September 18, 2007, 10:30:09 AM
Hope this will spawn into a collection of violin concertos to rival Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series. :)
Er ... Hyperion already have a Romantic Violin Concerto series. ;D
Quote from: Mark on September 18, 2007, 10:51:20 AM
Er ... Hyperion already have a Romantic Violin Concerto series. ;D
They forgot to record anything for it though... it's so miniscule as to may as well not exist :P
Did Naxos ever do a series for the piano?
Quote from: Lethe on September 18, 2007, 10:58:14 AM
They forgot to record anything for it though... it's so miniscule as to may as well not exist :P
Is that so? I thought there were quite a few recordings knocking about?
Quote from: Mark on September 18, 2007, 11:15:08 AM
Is that so? I thought there were quite a few recordings knocking about?
While the PC one is probably over 50 volumes by now, the violin one has floundered for a while now:
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/collection_page.asp?name=RomanticVC
Quote from: dtwilbanks on September 18, 2007, 11:02:48 AM
Did Naxos ever do a series for the piano?
They had a couple seemingly random discs with a "Romantic Piano Concerto" label, including one of Thalberg, but nothing really ever came of it, and it certainly wasn't a series.
Quote from: brianrein on September 18, 2007, 11:56:26 AM
They had a couple seemingly random discs with a "Romantic Piano Concerto" label, including one of Thalberg, but nothing really ever came of it, and it certainly wasn't a series.
Too bad.
Quote from: dtwilbanks on September 18, 2007, 12:00:48 PM
Too bad.
I know; not all of us can afford $20 for a Hyperion CD, let alone the amount required to buy all the interesting volumes in their series. :(
Quote from: Mark on September 18, 2007, 10:51:20 AM
Er ... Hyperion already have a Romantic Violin Concerto series. ;D
Slow in recording, expensive to buy. :P
Oh, Harry! I knew this thread could not long escape your notice! ;D
Of course I knew this was in the oven, but as always Naxos is not very clear in how and when and at what rate. But now they have announced it, they are bound to it.
So its party time. ;D
I'll wait for the complete box to be published thank you!
Quote from: erato on September 18, 2007, 12:54:19 PM
I'll wait for the complete box to be published thank you!
That may be long after your pension my friend. ;D
Quote from: Harry on September 18, 2007, 12:38:33 PM
Of course I knew this was in the oven,
Been suggesting ideas to Klaus H., Harry? ;D
Quote from: brianrein on September 18, 2007, 01:37:27 PM
Been suggesting ideas to Klaus H., Harry? ;D
Funny enough I remember a email I send to them asking for more violin concerto recordings, years ago, but I had no idea he would take me literally. ;D
I even found the thing back on one of my external drives from 2005.
Quote from: Harry on September 18, 2007, 01:46:37 PM
Funny enough I remember a email I send to them asking for more violin concerto recordings, years ago, but I had no idea he would take me literally. ;D
I even found the thing back on one of my external drives from 2005.
Harry, if you want Klaus' email address, I have it. We corresponded briefly a year or so ago. I have Maria Kliegel's, too. ;)
This is truly excellent news. There are so many violin works that never see the light of day, and it's great we have alternatives to the never-ending diet of the Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Bruch-1 and Sibelius concertos.
All praise to the entirely admirable Naxos. Those of us who began buying recordings back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s know that the so-called "majors" never even dreamed of such things. It has taken a new generation of recording companies to start expanding the recorded repertoire -- and at entirely affordable prices. So stuff that in your pipe, Norman Lebrecht, and smoke it.
Back in the 1950s and 60s -- when only big-selling mainstream repertoire was released anyway -- I reckon with the price of LPs at 36/4 (never mind trying to translate that unless you are British and over 50) the average worker could have bought around 5 LPs per week IF he didn't pay for tax, accommodation, food etc and used all his or her earnings for LP buying. Which is why my eyebrows shoot up at the weedy modern CD buyers who say: "$20 for a CD? That is extortionate"!
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 19, 2007, 12:07:17 AM
This is truly excellent news. There are so many violin works that never see the light of day, and it's great we have alternatives to the never-ending diet of the Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Bruch-1 and Sibelius concertos.
That's what I thought. I think I'll hold out for an 18thC violin box though.
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 19, 2007, 12:07:17 AMWhich is why my eyebrows shoot up at the weedy modern CD buyers who say: "$20 for a CD? That is extortionate"!
I'm a college student; I live for cheap. Sorry to disappoint you, though. Someday $20 for a CD shall be no problem for me. :)
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 19, 2007, 12:07:17 AM
Back in the 1950s and 60s -- when only big-selling mainstream repertoire was released anyway -- I reckon with the price of LPs at 36/4 (never mind trying to translate that unless you are British and over 50) the average worker could have bought around 5 LPs per week IF he didn't pay for tax, accommodation, food etc and used all his or her earnings for LP buying. Which is why my eyebrows shoot up at the weedy modern CD buyers who say: "$20 for a CD? That is extortionate"!
Yeah but the recordings were more valuable then, right? I'm guessing there weren't as many available and they were harder to produce, ditto the hifi needed to play them. It's easy and cheap to get stereo equipment, cds and mp3s. What you're saying is not sound criticism of the buyer. For this day and age, $20 a cd is extortion. Back then it would not have been.
You have everything lined up right, but then you suggest that the conclusion is that the buyer has gotten overly frugal, when the actual conclusion is that the price of music has really dropped over the years.
Quote from: DavidW on September 19, 2007, 01:46:52 PM
You have everything lined up right, but then you suggest that the conclusion is that the buyer has gotten overly frugal, when the actual conclusion is that the price of music has really dropped over the years.
The price of buying recordings has certainly dropped and dropped. Today's prices are very cheap for something potentially so valuable for so many years. This is why I can't understand people saying that although
A may be a better performance, they are going to buy
B -- because it's $3 cheaper! In an era when it costs me the equivalent of US$100 to fill my car's tank with fuel, the price of CDs that give pleasure for decades has become trivial.
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 20, 2007, 12:15:27 AM
I can't understand people saying that although A may be a better performance, they are going to buy B -- because it's $3 cheaper!
Come visit Romania, my friend! Here, the price of a DG or Philips or EMI disc is 1/10 of the mean net salary which is about 300 Euros. Not everybody lives in the US. ;D
Quote from: Florestan on September 20, 2007, 02:46:41 AM
Come visit Romania, my friend! Here, the price of a DG or Philips or EMI disc is 1/10 of the mean net salary which is about 300 Euros. Not everybody lives in the US. ;D
Well, I certainly don't !
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 20, 2007, 03:32:24 AM
Well, I certainly don't !
Well, sorry, but US, UK... what's the difference in respect to the discussion at hand? :)
Quote from: Florestan on September 20, 2007, 02:46:41 AM
Come visit Romania, my friend!
He won't go there. If Harry's real prices are adjusted to gas, then it's obvious he will move to Venezuela
QuoteTaxi driver Jaime Tinoco works the streets of Caracas in a 1976 Chevy Nova that guzzles 19 gallons (72 liters) of gas a day. But he doesn't worry about fuel efficiency -- filling his tank costs just $2.30.
While US consumers struggle with soaring energy prices, Venezuela's gas is now the world's cheapest at 12 cents a gallon and Washington's regional foe, President Hugo Chavez, vows to maintain subsidies that keep fuel dirt-cheap.
Full article here (http://en.ce.cn/subject/EnergyCrisis/ECworld/200605/12/t20060512_6934874.shtml)
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 20, 2007, 12:15:27 AM
The price of buying recordings has certainly dropped and dropped. Today's prices are very cheap for something potentially so valuable for so many years. This is why I can't understand people saying that although A may be a better performance, they are going to buy B -- because it's $3 cheaper! In an era when it costs me the equivalent of US$100 to fill my car's tank with fuel, the price of CDs that give pleasure for decades has become trivial.
That's a very good point. Since cds are cheap, too much shopping is driven by quantity. I don't have the time to really appreciate cds by bulk anyway these days, I used to be like that, but now I'll just selecting the recording that I really wanted to hear even if it's at a slightly higher price. :)
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 20, 2007, 12:15:27 AM
The price of buying recordings has certainly dropped and dropped. Today's prices are very cheap for something potentially so valuable for so many years. This is why I can't understand people saying that although A may be a better performance, they are going to buy B -- because it's $3 cheaper! In an era when it costs me the equivalent of US$100 to fill my car's tank with fuel, the price of CDs that give pleasure for decades has become trivial.
I think that may be in part because CD prices--at least for all the box-set reissues out there--continue to fall, leading one to exclaim about label X, "They're charging more than $3 per CD! What a rip-off!" You get used to that low, low price point and start to wonder, if all these great CD's with top artists and sound can be (re)released so cheaply, why shouldn't they
all be? You start to feel like you're getting burned when you pay full price for some Hyperion (one of the "worst" culprits in that regard) or BIS CD that's been out for years.
That undoubtedly overlooks certain economic issues, but consumer psychology doesn't necessarily care for those :)
Quote from: Grazioso on September 20, 2007, 04:24:14 AM
I think that may be in part because CD prices--at least for all the box-set reissues out there--continue to fall, leading one to exclaim about label X, "They're charging more than $3 per CD! What a rip-off!" You get used to that low, low price point and start to wonder, if all these great CD's with top artists and sound can be (re)released so cheaply, why shouldn't they all be? You start to feel like you're getting burned when you pay full price for some Hyperion (one of the "worst" culprits in that regard) or BIS CD that's been out for years.
That undoubtedly overlooks certain economic issues, but consumer psychology doesn't necessarily care for those :)
I have no problems with full price issues, if they:
- contain valuable repertoire (not things that are done to death already) or valuable interpretative insights
- have top notch production standards
- have good notes and quality packaging.
That is, if a product is interesting and of premium quality, one may well price it for what it is. Sadly, menay full price issues fail to meet these criteria.
Quote from: DavidW on September 20, 2007, 03:50:13 AM
That's a very good point. Since cds are cheap, too much shopping is driven by quantity.
A very good point from you, too. I am alarmed about how many CDs I now buy per year; I can't possibly listen to all the CDs I own, and most of those I now acquire only get, at most, one or two listens. If CDs cost the equivalent of US$100 each, I might take a little more pride in buying and listening.
Quote from: Harry Collier on September 21, 2007, 04:04:48 AM
A very good point from you, too. I am alarmed about how many CDs I now buy per year; I can't possibly listen to all the CDs I own, and most of those I now acquire only get, at most, one or two listens. If CDs cost the equivalent of US$100 each, I might take a little more pride in buying and listening.
I'm sure this is the same for many of us. Which is why downloads don't make me feel half so guilty about excessive buying: no CDs on my shelf as visual reminders. ;D
And my, aren't we very OT now. ;)