Unreleased recordings wanted!

[Gareth Vaughan]

I am with you there, Ilja.

[Alan Howe]

Although the first two of Straesser's symphonies are still available in our Downloads board, they 'escaped' to YouTube and can be checked out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmh3ubvJTaY    (No.1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rQbmAKSDkU  (No.2)

Personally, I find them somewhat elusive, but it'd be good to have them released.

[Justin]

Those are still somewhere in a drawer in Osnabrück, I assume.

The same is sure to be said of Jean Louis Nicodé's works, also conducted by Werner Andreas Albert.

[eschiss1]

It's a pity Straesser's other 4 symphonies were not recorded and too that no tapes of Furtwängler conducting no.4 (iirc) (in G minor) seem to have been made. I recommend his 5 string quartets though.

[brendangcarroll]

At the moment, the record companies are barely functioning and most staff are working from home!

Hard to see that there will be an acceleration of releases under such circumstances.

I hope I am wrong.

I have been waiting for NAXOS to release Volume 2 of Korngold- The Complete Lieder for TWELVE YEARS! Vol 1 was released in 2008. Volume 2 has some incredible rarities and world premieres. I have stopped asking....

[dhibbard]

I would have to say the same.... there is a push from some of the orchestra's to put their music directly onto applemusic or spotify, and bypassing the labels altogether.... they receive more of the royalties since they are all downloads....  have to see what 2021 holds to happen

[TerraEpon]

I have been waiting for NAXOS to release Volume 2 of Korngold- The Complete Lieder for TWELVE YEARS! Vol 1 was released in 2008. Volume 2 has some incredible rarities and world premieres. I have stopped asking....

Yeah, Naxos in general seems to love to start series and never finish them. Or just take a long break between releases.

[Kevin]

I'm not a fan of Naxos anymore, I rarely buy from them. I've moved into the CPO camp for the time being, I'm always pleasantly impressed by their new releases(even if they take many years sometimes to release )

[eschiss1]

Should we merge this and this thread?

In re Naxos et piano obscure Ives jokes, their Fibich vol.5 is expected next month, including the 3rd symphony.

[dhibbard]

@TerraEpon

     I wonder if Naxos records the whole series of composers and they wait to see if the first CD sells or not..if not, they don't or delay the series by decades.
 

[eschiss1]

The alternative being?

[eschiss1]

(I would guess btw that while cpo is sometimes different it is because they commit to financing and partners up front- their projects are in association withs, much moreso than Naxos'- and this changes the risks they are taking in the shorter term at least.)

[Sharkkb8]

I wonder if Naxos records the whole series of composers and they wait to see if the first CD sells or not..if not, they don't or delay the series by decades.

I don't pretend to know anything about the inner-workings of classical labels, but assuming the company had serious doubts about the prospective popularity of a future series, wouldn't it lean toward spending *less* up front, on early production costs & multiple recordings, rather than more?

[Mark Thomas]

In my experience (and I've produced seven CDs for them) Naxos is a very commercially-aware operation. If they have any doubts about the profitability of a prospective recording (and probably if they don't) they'll want the costs of making it covered by sponsorship before they'll commit to it. Their standard business model when I was involved with them was that they expected a sponsor to take care of all aspects of getting the recording made, including sourcing the materials, paying artists (who often trade payment for the exposure of being recorded, I believe) and making the recording itself (to Naxos' specification, of course). Naxos may wholly finance some recordings themselves, I don't know, but in my experience their role is to manufacture the physical CDs and market them, which they do very well. So delays in completing a series are probably down to an inability of those behind the project to raise the money needed to complete it. 

I should say for the avoidance of doubt that in saying this I'm not being critical of Naxos in any way. I found it a very straightforward, professional and easy to deal with company, which delivered what it promised.

[Alan Howe]

And in any case, what right do we have demand things of them?

cpo's approach is rather different. Much (most?) of what they release are co-productions with German regional radio organisations.