I thought it might be an idea to centralise a "list" of recordings of unsung works known to have been made but, for whatever reason, never released (commercially or otherwise). And for which other recordings by other artists are not available.
This is partly out of curiosity, but partly as by bringing them to people's attention, some ideas might arise as to how (legitimately) to access these recordings.
The ones on my list include:
1. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "Serviliya"- recorded by the Pokrovsky Opera in Moscow under Rozhdestvensky in 2016.Release may yet happen...
2. Artur Kapp's Last Confession of Job ("Viimne Piht" in Estonian) - version for full orchestra by Vardo Rumessen. This was recorded by Paavo Järvi in approx 2002, but (according to Martin Anderson of Toccata Classics) "there were various things about the recording that Paavo wasn't happy with (without being specific) and so the recording was pulled".
3. A large part of the orchestral output of the Belarusian composer Vassili Zolotarev (1872-1964) is known to have been recorded in the Soviet years by Belarusian orchestras, but is sitting in archives in Belarus.
Didn't Dutton record Macfarren's violin concerto a few years back? Maybe this is still within their usual "lead time".
I guess this thread will lead to nothing but sheer numbing frustration! But for the record, I distinctly recall reading in one of the record comics at least 15 years ago that Neeme Jarvi was about to record for DG all five of the Maximilian Steinberg symphonies. Obviously a now dead project, but wouldn't that have been quite a thing!
Yes it may have been. I am surprised that Naxos didn't record the Steinbergs. The more I hear of his music, the more fascinated I get. The Passion Week is marvelous.
More than unreleased recordings, I would really like it if the archives of some orchestras would open up and release some live recordings that otherwise are out of reach. For example, the dazzling Schmidt 2nd that Sawallisch did with Philadelphia at Carnegie Hall, and also in Philadelphia, a thrilling reading of the Gliere 3rd with Neeme Jarvi. And the Kalinnikov 1st that St. Louis did a few seasons ago is on my want list, too.
And there's the follow-up volume(s) of music by Rufinatscha on Chandos. Perhaps vol.1 fell flat commercially...
I mentjoned this a couple weeks ago, but the Fibich series on Naxos was supposed to go to eight volumes (and finished releasing by the end of 2015) but stopped at four. I wonder if they were actually recorded? Naxos often holds back stuff for a while (even CPO would blush now and again)
Projects get cancelled all the time. Anyone who has been in the business for a good length of time will have an experience to share.
TerraEpon- your question about Fibich was answered that very day I think (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5291.msg66084.html#msg66084 (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5291.msg66084.html#msg66084)). Patience?
Er, I took Mark's comment as just a guess.
QuoteMore than unreleased recordings...
Let's not allow this thread to become a list of 'wish-fors', but rather one about recordings we know were made or at least explicitly planned. Thanks!
It was just a guess, but one based on experience.
QuoteDidn't Dutton record Macfarren's violin concerto a few years back? Maybe this is still within their usual "lead time".
Never heard anything about this. Would be interested to know more. Doesn't sound likely, but one lives in hope!
Never heard this myself either.
Would love to hear that! Hope it's closer to Robin Hood than to the symphonies in quality
So here's one....wasn't there some Raff string quartets that never got released on CPO? Or did they eventually make it out? Or just never get recorded?
I've going to assume the Suite Op. 210 for violin and piano wasn't recorded, given Volker was released digitally alone...that looks to be the only piece missing (outside some reductions) from their series otherwise.
I recall that the Malats Piano Concerto was recorded by Hyperion but never released.
I have played through it and it is full of fun and freedom, albeit a little lacking in the melody dept.
Thal
Really? Who by?
This is where I read of the Macfarren vc. Maybe we should contact Dutton or Robert Atchison?
http://www.classicalmusiclinks.ru/item13166.html
Quotewasn't there some Raff string quartets that never got released on CPO?
That's right, there are two string quartets missing from cpo's cycle of them, played by the Mannheim String Quartet - nos.1 and 5. They did record all eight, published nos.6 and 7 11 years ago and 2,3,4 and 8 last year, so only another nine years' wait for the final CD! As far as I know the Suite for Piano & Violin hasn't been recorded commercially.
This the actual quote re. the MacFarren VC:
QuoteFuture recordings for 2009-11 include...the world premiere recording of the George MacFarren violin concerto for Dutton Records
Probably never got made...?
I just emailed Robert Atchison to ask
Maybe just squeezing into the remit of this forum, about 15 years ago I was involved in a project to record a new edition of all the symphonies of Antonín Reicha for BMG (RCA). We had got as far as identifying periods for recording sessions and there was a big management shake-up at BMG, the would-have-been executive producer disappeared in a puff of smoke (later to resurface with his own independent CD label, minus the BMG-type funding) and the project collapsed, never to be resurrected.
Another stillborn project was the Abert symphonies with the Stuttgart Philharmonic under Gabriel Feltz - on Sterling, I think.
QuoteI recall that the Malats Piano Concerto was recorded by Hyperion but never released.
QuoteReally? Who by?
I suspect Melani Mestre, since I believe he has the autograph score.
Ah, yes. Sounds about right.
Alan, re: the Abert, that is correct. But I understand that there is a new effort under way at the moment with a different label - don't know which, but the odds are it's cpo.
This can be a source of frustration, particularly if the work is historically significant and the reasons to suppress the recording appear trivial or petty (as in the case of the Marx Herbstsinfonie, for instance). Another problem occurs when works that have been recorded for some time continue to languish on a shelf somewhere because a label doesn't get around to publishing it (as in the case of the Urspruch Symphony).
Ah yes. The Urspruch symphony and piano concerto, both of which are still awaiting release.
Please tell me more about the Herbstsinfonie. I didn't know it had been commercially recorded, other than the fine performance by Botstein which is available only as a download - I presume you are not referring to that.
A commercial download of the Herbstsymphonie in an absolutely superb performance conducted by Michel Swierczewski was once available from MicMacMusic - no longer, unfortunately.
QuoteAlan, re: the Abert, that is correct. But I understand that there is a new effort under way at the moment with a different label - don't know which, but the odds are it's cpo.
Oh, excellent. Any more info, Ilja?
QuoteA commercial download of the Herbstsymphonie in an absolutely superb performance conducted by Michel Swierczewski was once available from MicMacMusic - no longer, unfortunately.
Oh dear. I missed that completely. But am I correct in saying that no physical CD of the work has been released? Of course, it was supposed to have been done by ASV but they gave up their Marx series.
You are correct, Gareth. The only hints as to possible recordings have involved Rasilainen (for cpo) and Chailly (presumably Decca).
One can find excerpts from the Swierczewski performance on YouTube (I haven't checked whether it's all there).
I have that performance, indeed downloaded from MicMac music. I find it musically superior to Botstein, though Botstein has a marginally superior orchestra.
I am of your same opinion, minacciosa :-) Incidentally, I also have broadcast audios of Marx's Nordland-Rhapsodie, Verklärtes Jahr and Festliche Fanfarenmusik.
Whatever became of the Paul Graener Cello Concerto recording that CPO was to have released LAST year??? Also there was a 2 CD set of Hausseger works also set for 2015........
Jerry
Don't forget, we UC fans and specialists are a big minority!
But even top repertoire sales have become higly problematic.
cpo may also have to go over their books from time to time - and to face constantly sales dropping figures! Some cancellations will become necessary, since also private sponsor's money runs out. Even to noble institutions like Palazzetto Brun Zane I give just a couple of year's life. I hear from unofficial channels that also Hyperion are in need to discuss about future programs, which were enthusiastically planned years ago
http://slippedisc.com/2015/04/classical-record-sales-just-keep-on-falling/
http://slippedisc.com/2016/06/worst-ever-us-classical-sales-chart/
and look at the crap which is selling, in a way or another:
http://www.billboard.com/charts/classical-albums
Brahms at place 12 and Bach at 14, then, of course, a Kaufmann - but only at place 16, etc. etc.
A bit diifferent, but tragic enough also on
http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/classical-artist-albums-chart/
Now just some figures: If, for example, you want a recording published by Guild, you have to pay everything, except for the booklet and CD pressing. In some cases they also finance the liner notes' translations. So, if you show up with a finished master (production fully sponsored) and the liner notes, you willl also have to purchase 350 CDs at 12 Euros each (which finances Guild's pressing and printing expenses, plus some little advertising). Depending from sales, there are some royalties paid, which makes 15% on sales prices, but only after Guild has recouped the total costs of production (??). Compared to labels like Naxos and Hyperion etc, Guild is still paying royalties, and this is fair, even though it does not bring in much.
I have never seen sales statistics of my Brun CDs there, I have diverted royalties' payments to the Brun estate, and just wonder how all this sells! This Brun project was fully financed by the composer's son (who, unfortunately died before it was completed) - it costed over 400'000 Euros! This sum was fully managed by myself, and don't think I took care to get big conductor's fees!
Before and without this, there was no company who ever showed any interest in this composer, even at a time I enquired at other labels, mentioning that some 50% of the sponsoring was already secured. And this budget could only be realised with Eastern orchestras. Over here in Switzerland or even in Germany, it would have costed almost the double; since also no Radio orchestra/station wanted to co-produce; some of their mangers found Brun's music not good or not interesting enough.
So I always have mixed feelings reading those rewievers writing "thanks to Guild this has become available"...
One day or another, we UC fans too, we will have to face reality - just look at all the shops closing down!
My interest in 'unsungs' (composers and works) is only 10-15 years old so others will have a much better perspective than me. However, in response to Hadrianus' point about a disappearing market, it seems to me we have had maybe three 'good' eras of unsungs: (i) the BBC (and continental) radio broadcasts over many decades and which may (or not?!) have been preserved - for example BBC R3 'composer of the week' series has, I understand, often commissioned first performances of hitherto unsung (or even unheard) works - oh that Dutton could have the freedon, under contract, to go to work on these!!!, (ii) particularly former soviet regimes who deemed it necessary to record ALL their 'cultural' music - good, bad and worse (MELODIYA etc) and (iii) in more recent times, BIS, CHANDOS, HYPERION, CPO, NAXOS and many others who have brought both unsung composers and/or their unsung works to the market.
If Hadrianus is right, we might be shortly entering a bit of a cultural dark age in respect of unsungs as internet downloads and self-publishing of 'pop' music will (probably?) reduce even further record label margins (I doubt i-tunes type pricing is long-term sustainable!) and hence their willingness to fund unsungs being prepared and recorded. Perhaps our way forward lies in an organised programme (rather than haphazard one-offs) of releases via crowd-funding (Kickstarter et al) like the recent Reinecke Cello concerto. The obvious downside is that this mechanism will tend to exclude many top-class performers - will they end up pricing themselves out of a lucrative job or will the appeal of the 'latest' artist - Lang Lang or whoever - still sell enough CDs to keep things going?
Back in the box Richard!
Mind you, I don't think of the US as particularly fertile soil for the promotion of unsung composers. I'd really like to know what jpc/cpo's sales figures are like.
I think, just the fact than any of those enterprising labels (cpo, Chandos, Hyperion etc.) do not reveal sales figures is a proof for, that golden times are gone by and that something is not right.
At the time I was working for Marco Polo, Klaus Heymann was continuously complaining how bad this label was selling and that he would be happy if that catalogue would at least break even; that's why he invested with small budgets. This was sometimes compensated by better Naxos sales figures - and certainly for using the revenues of his business in the audio device fields to finance his labels. He was not a real pioneer as far as unsung repertoire is concerned, but for engaging cheaper (and idealistic) musicians to realise some good/interesting reacordings - and, at the same time, budget classical CDs. But remember that Vox-Turnabout had done this long before with their LPs: those were the pioneers - toghether with some other smaller (not not cheaper) labels. Genesis & Co were sold at usual expensive prices.
But today, most labels lack investing capitals; sales have become so low that producing unsung repertoire (not to spaek about current repertoire; this sells already miserably!) has become a purely prestige thing and depending also from private sponsorings. They are carefully enough not to admit this. Even Naxos now are preferring musicians paying for their recordings - and look at how strange thir catalogue has becoe witgh all those contemporary titles, which in earlier times were higly despised.
The unsung repertoire will become saturated in a short time too, I suppose, or I am almost sure. I doubt that there will be so many hidden masterworks left over still waiting for us. The contributions in this thread already demonstrate how difficult it is - and will increasingly be - looking for more good unsung pieces. And who is going to buy them to have them produced without loss? A minority like us?
The only chances left would be some radio stations and their orchestras, but they too are closing down one after another. The BBC, France Radio and some bigger German stations will survive (after so many other with classical departments had to cut, or even close down) but they have enough troubles already keeping up with current repertoire!
And what about the concert-hall business? Just have a look around how desperately those too many orchestras are trying to survive and to change their politics to win back audiences.
Let us admit: classical music has become more and more a luxury. Earlier "nationalistic" cultural engagements were not bad ideas as that, but, unfortunately, they were set up by the wrong political régimes, favorising only composers and performers who would join their parties. But a lot of money was invested! This conception could be a good one: use more state money for culture. But it's too late now, which goverment/state is not complaining of having enough money anymore? Cultural budgets are always the first ones to be cut down in difficult times. Now, even here in Switzerland they start doing this.There is, generally, not even enough money around for our secure social survival - looking at all what happens around today - so why support culture, which is a minoritie's affair?
I am perhaps too extremely pessimistic. And I even dare to admit to be happy of being already old. Cannot guarantee to be able to face all what is ready to come. Politically first, culturally second. Mankind's has sunk considerably in the last years: brutality, ignorance and stupidity prevail. People walk aroun d with weapond in their pockets and kill eachother for the silliest reasons; goverment are ruled by uncapables, by ignorants and by psychopaths, etc. etc. Under such conditions, how can art survive, where to is it going?
Coming back to "UC's future" theme, I have personally witnessed its raise since 1987 - or even before this year of my first Marco Polo recording. I was struggling for Raff & Co. already in the 1970's - but these were golden years, where producers had enough money coming from current music repertoire - or pop sales, in order to finance their classical frivolities (Legge was producing mostly for himself and for his wife, not really for mankind). And since this euphoria carried on not controlled carefully enough, the decline had to come just with the birth of internet, where pop music on CD started having big sales losses. A former manager of DGG-Polydor told me that already in Karajan's pre-digital LP times, without Polydor's pop and light music repertoire, he would never having been able to finance all this craze. Decca had their Rolling Stones financing Wagner's (Culshaw's) "Ring" and Tebaldi and EMI/HMV had their Beatles financing (their) Karajan, Callas & Co. Don't forget, immense producing budgets were needed to set up such kind of productions!
So, just let us pray (to whom is a personal matter), that all what is already happening, does not happen all too fast - or that a few miracles will happen one of these days!
Frankly, there are some days I even get bouts of bad conscience for being a composer and conductor! It's too late now to switch over to more urgent and socially useful activites... I was never convinced that music would save humantity anway; to those saying that after the great wars, concert-halls were always the first buildings to be re-built, I used to answer: no, it was the hospitals.
QuoteThe unsung repertoire will become saturated in a short time too, I suppose
I sincerely hope not. There's still an enormous amount of music left to discover if the history books are any guide...
I've written several times before here that we have been living through a golden age for unsung music recordings and, like every golden age, its time will pass. I'm not as pessimistic as hadrianus, though. Certainly, it's clear that most recordings of unsung repertoire are made now with private funding, but at least the sponsors are there and are still coughing up the money. Luckily, most of these aren't vanity projects either, but do result in very worthwhile extensions of the unsung repertoire. Although times are tougher for recording labels, they do seem to be finding ways to survive, and the music schools continue to churn out (probably way too many) skilled young performers who are eager for novel repertoire and seem happy with the idea of recording for nothing, just to give themselves a showcase.
That said, the market for classical music generally does seem to be in steady decline, be it recordings or live performance. As an example, I was giving a talk last night to a local music society, whose membership had declined by 50% in the last five years as older members left and couldn't be replaced. The same with a society I spoke to last month. Even an opera house like the Met is struggling to rise above 60% occupancy, and I too have heard of the financial woes of some of our prominent recording labels. Despite that I'll keep on promoting my own unsung causes both by persuasion and, occasionally, with money even though this golden age may just prove to be a glorious sunset.
There are too many music school graduates, to be sure. Where I live there are many players I know who have their PhD in music performance on oboe, bassoon, clarinet, horn...all unemployed, or at least not working in music. They don't get it: music is a tough business and those few orchestral jobs that open are going to go to the best players out there, and the competition in fierce. So they sell coffee by day and play in usually crappy amateur orchestras at night. But they have zero interest in obscure repertoire. What's worse, they don't even know the standard repertoire. How can someone graduate, with a PhD even, from a music school having never heard Beethoven 7, Brahms 3, Mahler 1? The percussionists are the worst of all. No longer can a conductor assume the drummers know the instruments to use, the style, the traditions. So when the supposedly musically educated don't know or care about classical music, what chance will it have? The unsung have even less. I do what I can. I conduct an annual Christmas concert and always find a way to get something not very well known into the program. Some Victor Herbert, obscure Tchaikovsky, George Chadwick, and Lumbye never hurt anyone and the audiences have always responded well. If only Raff had written something suitable!
QuoteHow can someone graduate, with a PhD even, from a music school having never heard Beethoven 7, Brahms 3, Mahler 1?
Easily, apparently. But that's all part of the dumbing-down of education that's been going on everywhere for years now.
Anyway, we're veering wildly off-topic here. Let's stick with never-released recordings, please.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Thursday 03 November 2016, 17:28
QuoteHow can someone graduate, with a PhD even, from a music school having never heard Beethoven 7, Brahms 3, Mahler 1?
Easily, apparently. But that's all part of the dumbing-down of education that's been going on everywhere for years now.
Anyway, we're veering wildly off-topic here. Let's stick with never-released recordings, please.
You are right about getting off topic but you opened up an important can of worms here.
Do we know that musical education is worse than earlier times? If anybody should question conventional wisdom before applying it, it is people at this forum. The problem that young (and even not so young) musicians don't have depth of repertoire is not new; I remember reading such laments when I was young.
The reason was and is the focus of the students: The young students spend years of many hours of daily practice acquiring the skills of a virtuoso--and getting to know the standard concerto repertoire for their instrument. But those skills are not required for good performance in an orchestra. The result is players with little orchestra practice and knowledge about the broader repertoire and often insufficient sight-reading ability.
Re music education being worse: it isn't worse in all places now than in the mid-19th century in a number of places (England on average...), that's sure, anyway...
Interesting diversion though this has been, perhaps we can now return to the thread's topic: never-released unsung recordings.
OK, maybe I shouldn't have responded re. the dumbing down of education. I know what I think, however, and I have plenty of evidence in my own field of expertise (modern languages).
So let's not go down that path - back to never-issued recordings, please.
Quote...particularly former soviet regimes who deemed it necessary to record ALL their 'cultural' music - good, bad and worse (MELODIYA etc)...
In the case of Melodiya, in the Soviet days they had more than one tier for their published recordings. Tier one would stay in print indefinitely (Mravinsky, David Oistrakh, Gilels, etc.).Tier two would stay in print five years, at which point source materials would be destroyed. Unless the performer were one of the very top names in Soviet music, tier assignment depended on the mood of the (non-musician) party apparatchik overseeing the project. Typically, tier assignments were made in batches, with items near the top of the stack having an advantage. I take this information from Dmitry Paperno's engaging 1998 memoir, "Notes of a Moscow Pianist," which I heartily recommend (along with its companion CD) to anyone interested in the so-called Moscow piano school.
QuoteI don't think of the US as particularly fertile soil for the promotion of unsung composers
That's a fair generalization. I knew a conductor explicitly let go by his orchestra's board for consistently programming approachable but lesser known works -- Kodaly's Te Deum, for example (which was thrilling to perform). Others on this forum no doubt have more war stories. It really depends on the individuals who control the politics behind the scenes, and not infrequently they are superannuated, as Wilde might say, representatives of the world of commerce, or their wives.
That said, this season the local orchestra has performed Elgar's "In the South (Alassio)" and in May will be performing Stanford's "Concert Piece for Organ and Orchestra." Even names more common in American concert programs will be represented by works that not too long ago were hard to hear live: Strauss by "Ein AlpenSinfonie," Debussy by "Le Printemps," Saint-Saens by the Egyptian concerto (with Hough). In other words CDs are having a broadening effect on concert programming, and this forum surely intensifies that effect.
Because U.S. orchestras have been recording their performances for many decades, there must be a trove of recorded but unpublished performances of American music slowly fading away as magnetic tapes age. But that's a topic for another forum.
The italian national radio (first EIAR then RAI) executed or aired from theatres many Operas now forgotten which were never released commercially.
Here an example:
http://orfeovedovo.weebly.com/20th-century-italian-opera-catalogue.html
Back in 2002, or maybe 2003, Gergiev recorded Rubinstein's "Demon" from a live Kirov performance. This version contained the often omitted final scene of Act 2 taking place after Tamara is sent to a monastery and containing the revenge for the murder of Prince Sinodal choral finale. This scene has always been omitted in all of the commercially released recordings of the opera including the Melodiya one (MEL CD 10 02102). The problem with Gergiev's recording is that the exciting act 2 ballet was omitted. I contacted the Kirov staff at that time and they told me that supplementary recording sessions were in progress to restore the ballet music in its proper place and when this was completed the now uncut performance would soon be released on the Philips label. Well, this never happened, probably because of the demise of Philips. The master tape of this uncut "Demon" still exists in the Kirov vaults (so I was told by them) and is awaiting for an enterprising record company to release it on CD, but the chances of this happening are very slim.
I remember that back then, Gergiev brought the Demon to the Paris Opera and I think it was broadcast on Radio France but I don't know if the ballet was included since the reviews did not mention that. Any comments from UC members, who may have recorded the Radio France broadcast, would be appreciated.
Re the Herbstsymphonie it was only a decade ago that this (http://www.joseph-marx.org/en/herbstsymphonie.html) was posted to the composer's fan-site- it may be surprising in a way that there are recordings at all...
Now, I know of a case that I find very peculiar and puzzling.
Back in 2014, I really enjoyed the release of Johann Nepomuk David's symphonies 1&6 by CPO..especially the 1st is IMHO a fine piece: very roughly, sort of a Hindemith with what Hindemith's music usually hasn't , at least for me: heart , soul, rhythmic lift and even some wit.
So, later on I was very surprised to see that in the German issue of the invaluable, impeccably researched "National discographies" that Robert Herman compiles for Musicweb International, 3 more cd's were displayed, the complete symphonies.
I was like, wow, this one I really missed.
Well , to my disappointment I could find no trace whatsoever of them, starting from the CPO (jpc) website..... looks like they were never released.
We know that CPO often keeps thing in the can for a long time (Urspruch, anyone?) but I can't recall another case like this..catalogue number, release dates and all........and no cd's.
This is the listing from mr.Herman's list:
Symphony No. 2, Op. 20 (1938) Johannes Wildner/ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna ( + Symphony No. 4) CPO 777 577-2 (2015)
Symphony No. 3, Op. 28 (1941) Johannes Wildner/ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna ( + Symphony No. 7) CPO 777 964-2 (2015)
Symphony No. 4, Op. 39 (1948 Johannes Wildner/ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna ( + Symphony No. 2) CPO 777 577-2 (2015)
Symphonies 5 & 8 appear to be missing, unless there is an error in your post above.
Just a gentle reminder: J.N.David's symphonies fall outside UC's remit.
I stand corrected.. I got a little too carried away by my dismay about the disappearance, of rather neverappearance, of these cd's.
I apologize.
No problem. I understand your frustration - I might well be interested in those releases myself.
Quick note to Mr Herman though- No 5 -has- been recorded :)
I know of some recordings in the can (announced fairly publicly in Gramophone iirc) but they too are not in our remit- and not likely to be released (the label was at least temporarily defunct and the music - certain works by Rubbra - was released under different performers by Chandos in the meanwhile.)
Yes... just to follow up on Christophers' original note, I recently found several videos on YouTube of Roman Simovych Ukrainian composer posted by Collegium Musicum . It appears that these recordings were made in the 1950s and 1960s by the Ukrainian Radio Symphony but never released by Melodiya
(they don't sound like they are from an LP ..and I can't find them listed in any Melodiya publications, so I have to assume the recordings are from the master tapes). I know that back in the 1990s, ERR was making available recordings of the ERSO from their library, many were in fact used by Melodiya. I bought several recordings they made onto CDR and paid cash USD!!
I am curious if the vault has been opened and will see more Soviet era recordings from the RTV orchestras of Ukraine and perhaps Belarus?? Look for this YouTube channel.
I regret that my discography listing of CPO CDs of Symphonies by J.N. David that have not as yet appeared has caused some consternation, I saw these recordings (as well as some others) listed in an official CPO catalogue a couple of years ago. I naively assumed that these releases were about to be released so I added them to my discographies. Should they languish in CPO's vaults indefinitely, I will remove them from the discographies. CPO is a wonderful label, but it often drives collectors (and discographers!) crazy.
Michael Herman
Just wanted to also confirm my observations that the classical-orchestral market is diminishing... case in point:
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article109959227.html
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra earlier this year folded up. Due to financial reasons.... however, a generous local Foundation came to the rescue and bailed them out. I have been a subscriber to their concerts for many years... they perform at the Bass Hall in Ft. Worth which is a top performance hall, home to the Cliburn Piano Competitions, and of course, Ft Worth was home to Van Cliburn.
However, they have found creative ways to sell tickets.. this summer they organized outdoor concerts with orchestra with what is called "tribute" bands.... like Journey, Led Zeppellin, and other pop bands that were famous in the 1960s-1980s... They have proven successful and have "sold out" many of these shows.
(as a side note, a tribute band is a group of musicians that play the greatest hit songs from these composers like the Beatles, Beach Boys, Journey.. etc) These concerts also gives the FWSO the contact email addresses to market further concerts and of course beg for contributions.
Running an orchestra, selling tickets and selling out concerts is a marketing function. So far, they have been successful in keeping the orchestra in the black.
But you are correct... the cultural things are the first to get cut. In Dallas, TX, during the 1970s, the DSO shut down for many years, before the Hunt and Perot Family Trusts got it going again.
You're right, Mike. Sadly.
The owner of Aquarius Classics - http://aquarius-classic.ru (http://aquarius-classic.ru) - has told me that he has old recordings of the following operas (or incidental music) but is waiting to raise $450 per opera in order to release them commercially on CD:
Alexandr Glazunov (1865-1936) - Complete music to the play "Masquerade"
Ilya Satz (1875-1912) - incidental music to the plays Hamlet, Miserere, Life in Paws, and others
Oleksiy Ryabov (1899-1955, Ukrainian) - Sorochinsky Fair
Cesar Cui (1835-1918) - Ivan the Fool; Puss in Boots (actually there are already two recordings of the latter out there)
and also (but of less interest to this forum):
Marian Koval (1901-1971) - The Grey Wolf and the Seven Kids
Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987) - The Master-Craftsman of Clamecy (this is the first version of Colas Breugnon)
$450 per opera doesn't seem like a huge amount of money...
With the upsurge of interest within Russia for pre-Soviet cultural artefacts and art works, I would have thought some oligarch would have jumped at the opportunity to fund these and get his name on the covers!
If only! They like being associated with things that are high-profile (restoring icons or artworks back to Russia, renovating the Bolshoi, restoring churches etc) - this in their eyes (and in the eyes of some of the public) justifies their wealth (and the means by which it was obtained...). Discovering new musical treasures by forgotten composers, sadly, isn't high up their list, much as we might wish it otherwise. Maybe that will change over time.... So much like over here, it's left largely to enthusiasts and amateurs.
You'd think that the aesthetic sensibility of someone willing to pay a fortune for a tiny Faberge pill-box might have extended to fine Russian music, but I was kind-of being half-serious and half cynical. What a pity.
That's it, semloh and Christopher >:(
The problem is that most (or all?) Russian oligarchs are musical ignorants. Imagine the spendid recordings/productions one could do in exchange of just a small Fabergé egg! Has one of you already visited the Baden-Baden Fabergé Museum? Baden-Baden is a Russian colony in Germany; historical buildings having been restaured with Russian money, the Theatre too is being supported by the mafia - Netrebko & Co. perform there regularly; and in Italian restaurants you also get also Russian menue cards. The Musum has a really perverse collection, this not only because of its object's "unsocial" background, but also because it has been created by one of these oligarchs, whose life goal is to buy back all these treasuries and have them stored in there, in order other oligarchs become jealous of him. The most expensive egg in there was bought from Christie's for 9 million Pounds. But Mr. Ivanov (the Museum's founder), has to accept that his own abstract paintings are being bought/sold only for about 60'000 Pounds...
Isn't it a bit strange to complain about these oligarchs' dubious habits and their ill-gotten wealth, only to complain classical music doesn't get enough of it? The problem is structural public attention and funding for 'classical' music, not incidental money (even if in the case of Russia, these are intertwined). Even if one or two were to subsidize the re-release of a given Melodiya recording, it doesn't mean much in the long run if no one is marketing and then buying the thing. Put otherwise: we need infrastructure, not one or two cds.
OK, enough of Russian oligarchs. Let's get back to the topic, please.
Yes, about that. Can anyone tell what happened to the Audite recording of Eduard Franck's Symphony in A, Op. 44 by the Saarbrücken RSO under Hans-Peter Frank? The B flat major appeared about ten years ago, but although I have a radio dub of it, I would have expected its younger (and honestly superior) sibling to have made it to release by now.
It was released and is still listed on Audite's website:
https://www.audite.de/en/product/CD/20025-e_franck_orchestral_works_i.html (https://www.audite.de/en/product/CD/20025-e_franck_orchestral_works_i.html)
The Symphony in A is his Op.47.
The CD is also available at Amazon.de:
https://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/B00007GX1J/ref=olp_f_used?ie=UTF8&f_new=true&f_used=true&f_usedAcceptable=true&f_usedGood=true&f_usedLikeNew=true&f_usedVeryGood=true&qid=1517337009&sr=8-24
(https://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/B00007GX1J/ref=olp_f_used?ie=UTF8&f_new=true&f_used=true&f_usedAcceptable=true&f_usedGood=true&f_usedLikeNew=true&f_usedVeryGood=true&qid=1517337009&sr=8-24)
I also thought that they were going to record Eduard Franck's 2 piano concertos. But it would appear I was mistaken: they certainly haven't appeared, if indeed they were ever recorded or scheduled for recording.
Sorry Alan, I was looking for the wrong opus number, apparently...
That's OK. Is Op.47 the work you meant, though?
It was. And is now ordered. The thing's even on Spotify, closer inspection reveals.
Oh, good.
It seems that Franck's 1st Piano Concerto has only really been performable (is that a word?) since recent times: http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/pianist-james-tocco-performs-long-lost-eduard-franck-work-piano-concerto/1225325 (http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/pianist-james-tocco-performs-long-lost-eduard-franck-work-piano-concerto/1225325)
That was in 2012... A pity we don't even have a recording of that performance. Wasn't the pianist James Tocco going to record both the PC's of E Franck?
Presumably not if the 2nd isn't performable.
I notice that at least one of Richard Franck's 3 piano concertos were published (in 1910) in reduction anyway, but hope they still exist in parts or full score. Hope there are plans to record those, but that's a bit offtopic.
Oh, it would be performable, with a bit of work however. It was never printed but the ms full score exists; indeed, I have a photocopy of it.
Would be interested to see the Richard Franck PC, and learn if the others exist, and if so where they are.
ah ok, I completely misread Ilja's comment to this thread of this morning :)
That said, Ilja, if you have a radio dub, it's not "never-released" under the terms of this particular thread- which is about _never_ (and nowhere) released unsung recordings. Not just commercially unissued, but really and truly unheard (beyond their performers and a few friends, perhaps) unsung recordings- performances that were recorded, apparently even intended for eventual release that we gather were made, canned and haven't circulated at -all- (yet)...
(I agree that things are better done well than in haste- there was an excellently-phrased line in a novel I was reading just the other day to the same effect (I forget now by whom - I read too bloody much and too quickly, blast it. I think it may have been in Marie Brennan's wonderful "Memoirs of Lady Trent" series, but could equally well have been in something else) - but I understand the frustration of waiting for such things, too, really...)
Thanks for that post Eric - yes that's exactly what this thread is about. So if there's a recording of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto by pianist X that is sitting in an archive somewhere unreleased, that's irrelevant to this thread, as there are other recordings available of that work. However, if there's a recording, that you know of, of a symphony by (say) Zolotarev that is sitting unreleased in an archive, then do let everyone know - as there is no other recorded version of it outstanding!
QuoteSo if there's a recording of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto by pianist X that is sitting in an archive somewhere unreleased, that's irrelevant to this thread, as there are other recordings available of that work.
No, that would be irrelevant to this thread because Tchaikovsky's PC (presumably No.1) isn't unsung. On the other hand if there were a version of an unsung piece that had already been recorded but which hadn't been released, that
would be relevant here. OK?