Classical out-of-print recordings made available

[brownie]

When will there be a similar selection of jazz recordings?

From The New York Times today.

WHERE COLLECTORS CAN GET LOST CLASSICAL RECORDINGS

By STEVE SMITH

Published: November 25, 2006

Long before the closing of Tower Records was announced, the notion that a music store should offer a comprehensive selection of classical recordings had been abandoned. Older discs, which typically sold too slowly to help bricks-and-mortar stores meet their costs, were deleted from record labels’ catalogs. But they remained desirable to collectors, and the Internet music retailer ArkivMusic (arkivmusic.com) has recently introduced the ArkivCD program as a way to keep these recordings available.

ArkivMusic, a four-year-old company based in Bryn Mawr, Pa., maintains a database of more than 70,000 classical CDs, DVDs and SACDs (super audio compact discs), all sold through its Web site. Over the last two months, the company has added more than 1,600 ArkivCDs to its site: custom-burned CD-Rs of otherwise unavailable recordings, packaged in standard jewel boxes with facsimiles of the original cover and tray card. So far, liner notes are not included.

The concept of offering deleted recordings on CD-R is not new. A gray market has long existed for vintage LPs transferred to disc by private collectors, and in 2003, when New World Records (newworldrecords.org) absorbed the assets of the failed label Composers Recordings Inc., the company announced that the CRI catalog would be digitized for on-demand sales.

Eric Feidner, the president of ArkivMusic, said that offering out-of-print recordings had always been the company’s goal. “It was in the original business plan as the big idea,” he said. “But in order to get to the point where we could actually sell the big idea, we had to build a big customer base selling everything else.”

ArkivMusic began to license out-of-print recordings from independent labels two and a half years ago, storing the recordings as uncompressed digital files on its servers. The company did not publicize the series until last month, when a large influx of titles licensed from Sony BMG and Universal Classics was made available. The new additions included recordings by Eugene Ormandy, Martha Argerich, Jessye Norman and others.

Mr. Feidner said many of the initial offerings in the ArkivCD program were chosen using data culled from his company’s partnerships with classical radio stations, including WQXR-FM, which is owned by The New York Times Company. ArkivMusic links the playlists posted on these stations’ Web sites to its own site, enabling click-through purchasing.

“About 50 percent of what gets played on most classical stations on any given day is an out-of-print recording,” Mr. Feidner said. “That’s our wish list, because stations play these things all the time. People are looking for them.”

[Ron S]

I use that site as a reference to find out what's currently in-print--very comprehensive and VERY well organized (though generally not the best prices). I noticed that new service recently, here.

[Spontooneous]

This isn't digging very deeply into the catalog at all. Am I the only one who's underwhelemed?

Well, maybe it's a start.

Edited November 25, 2006 by Spontooneous

[Claude]

It's a good idea, although I doubt that the many inclusions of frequently recorded mainstream works will be successful at that price. It would be more interesting for rare repertoire. Who needs a $15 CD-R of Semyon Bychkov's interpretation of Shostakovich's 11th symphony when so many other good recordings of this work are available on mid-priced CD?

But given that it's an on-demand system, maybe it's already profitable if only a few dozen copies of every title are sold.

[Teasing the Korean]

This isn't digging very deeply into the catalog at all. Am I the only one who's underwhelemed?

You're not the only one. Right off the bat I look for some composers I'm into and they weren't even listed. And I'm not that big of a classical expert.

The gaping hole that exists right now in the classical digital catalog is the body of work by lesser known 20th Century composers recorded for LP between the 1950s and 70s. There's all this amazing stuff out there that you can only find on vinyl. In some cases, there is only one recording of a particular work.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Though I can't afford Classical music as well as all the other stuff, Im underwhelmed, too.

No Finzi

No Honneger

No Daniel-Lesur

No Alkan

No Schmidt

Just the usual pop stuff.

MG

[Claude]

No Honneger

The ArkivCD series is offering the classic Karajan recording

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album....p;album_group=8

It's surprising that DG would let this go OOP. I'll get the regular CD as long as it's still available.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

No Honneger

The ArkivCD series is offering the classic Karajan recording

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album....p;album_group=8

It's surprising that DG would let this go OOP. I'll get the regular CD as long as it's still available.

So how did you dig that one up, Claude? When I looked at the composers list, no mention of his name.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

lucky ewe Magniloquent-- most of the best recordings by

* Finzi-- lotsa stuff on Hyperion, some EMI

* Honneger-- forget Karajan (& NOT a rare cd by any means), get Jansons or Munch or whoever on Erato, chamber music on Timpani

* Daniel-Lesur-- okay I'll admit I'm stumped here

* No Alkan-- Hyperion, Ronald Smith on RCA, recent Kevin Boyer doing organ music in Toccata Classics

* Schmidt-- Jarvi symphonies Chandos, my fave #4 on Chesky, Sevel Seals Bark Bark there's Harnoncourt (my fave, maybe oop?), Welser-Most (EMI, now budget), Mitropolous. String 4-tets are on Nimbus, 5-tets on Orfeo (grab if you find), all-star set coupled (shield your eyes) w/Korngold on Sony...

Arkiv did dig up a few obscure Ondine titles but what gives w/no liners? Who goddamn hard is it to put the text file into a .pdf & if the original file doesn't exist, type it up? Granted, doing multi-lingual can challenge but...

Interesting about Finzi-- I can't recall if he was drunk or gay or drunk AND gay... those being the two most significant categories of 20th C. English composers. Either way, he's a good 'un if you do the pastoral, tho' I myself prefer the pastoral without "god," thus Delius, & the best RVW, etc tho' if you get the bug then there is that church music to grapple with, same with Herbert Howells.

meanwhile, if you dunno MG, check out E.J. Moeran, two discs on Naxos, likewise Arnold Bax, & more. nature mystics, thank "fuck."

c

Thanks Clem, but I flogged all but one of my Classical LPs in the early '70s, when I decided that I couldn't afford to pursue that kind of music as I'd have liked, as well as Jazz, Blues, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Ska, Reggae, and the different kinds of African music I was beginning to encounter. I STILL can't afford it!

BTW, my wife's aunt was a mate of Ron Smith. Used to have a few of his Alkan recordings. I had quite a bit of Delius, too. V nice, particularly "SOngs of sunset".

MG

PS Daniel-Lesur's "Symphonie de danses" on Erato was one of my all time favourites. One I wish I hadn't flogged.

Edited November 25, 2006 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[Teasing the Korean]

Thanks Clem, but I flogged all but one of my Classical LPs in the early '70s, when I decided that I couldn't afford to pursue that kind of music as I'd have liked, as well as Jazz, Blues, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Ska, Reggae, and the different kinds of African music I was beginning to encounter. I STILL can't afford it!...

Not sure what your "classical" tastes are, or what classical vinyl shows up where you are, but I've been able to build a decent classical library through second hand vinyl. Classical albums, especially 20th Century works, tend to be well taken care of (or seldom played!) and were routinely tossed out the door when CDs arrived. At a buck a throw, well worth it. Now the SPACE they take up is another issue...

[Claude]

An opportunity for ArkivCD to take over the SonyBMG Classical catalogue?

Shake-Up at Sony BMG Classical

By Vivien Schweitzer

21 Nov 2006

It's been a bad autumn for the classical recording industry. On the heels of Tower Records' demise, Sony BMG Music Entertainment has axed the president of its classical music division and six other key staff.

The major downsizing was reported yesterday by MusicalAmerica.com and today by The New York Times.

Staff let go from Sony BMG Masterworks include Gilbert Hetherwick, president, who was appointed two years ago; Debbi Surdi, VP of classical artists and repertoire; Michelle Errante, VP of product management; Warren Wernick, director of catalog development; Paul Cremo, VP for soundtracks and Broadway; Tammy Van Aken, editorial assistant; and Amy Zaboroski, executive assistant.

According to MusicalAmerica.com, Alex Miller, senior VP of marketing will now run Sony BMG Masterworks. David Lai, senior VP of artists and repertoire, will also stay.

Sony BMG Masterworks includes the labels Sony Classical, Columbia Masterworks, BMG Classics, RCA Red Seal, and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi; it also own the catalogues of the old CBS and RCA labels. The division releases recording by major classical stars such as Yo-Yo Ma and popular crossover musicians like The 5 Browns, as well as Broadway musicals and film scores. Sony BMG's archives include recordings by all of the "Big Five" U.S. orchestras (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Cleveland) as well as Arturo Toscanini, Jascha Heifitz, Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz.

The Times quotes Susan Schiffer, a spokeswoman for the department as saying (reading aloud from a statement), "Masterworks is now part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment Commercial Music Group. This will make the label leaner, more responsive and more effective in adapting to the new realities of reaching the classical music consumer. As a result of this change, there will be more resources in digital sales promotion and A&R [artists and repertoire]. Masterworks is totally committed to being a leader in classical and Broadway music as well as soundtracks."

http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/5627.html

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

The Times quotes Susan Schiffer, a spokeswoman for the department as saying (reading aloud from a statement), "Masterworks is now part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment Commercial Music Group. This will make the label leaner, more responsive and more effective in adapting to the new realities of reaching the classical music consumer. As a result of this change, there will be more resources in digital sales promotion and A&R [artists and repertoire]. Masterworks is totally committed to being a leader in classical and Broadway music as well as soundtracks."

I can just HEAR that statement being read out! I think Peter Cook would have done it perfectly in his E L Wisty voice.

MG

[Guy Berger]

When will there be a similar selection of jazz recordings?

Itunes already sells some albums that are not available as hard copies.

Guy

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

When will there be a similar selection of jazz recordings?

Itunes already sells some albums that are not available as hard copies.

Guy

EMusic has a lot of OOP Universal stuff. But European customers can't buy it. GRRRRR!

MG