Comments on On An Overgrown Path: Philly's profit share fillip

I see that, next Wednesday, Bayern Radio 4 is broa...

2005-07-15T15:40:10.246+01:00

I see that, next Wednesday, Bayern Radio 4 is broadcasting a recording of the Gideon Klein Partita, under Gerd Albrecht with the Czech Philharmonic, as part of that conductor's 70th birthday celebration. I don't see a James Conlon recording of the work.

http://www.br-online.de/programme/bayern4/index.jsp?show=6&date=20050719

pliable, you may have noticed this already, but I ...

2005-07-15T15:07:15.320+01:00

pliable, you may have noticed this already, but I see that Christoph Eschenbach, from May 5-10, 2005, gave the Philadelphia Orchestra premiere [and first performance of a work by Klein] of Gideon Klein's Partita for Strings (String Trio, arranged by Vojtech Saudek in 1990. Saudek [1951-2004] also wrote a Piano Concerto in Memory of Gideon Klein). It was part of an ambitious program opening with the Martinu Memorial to Lidice, including the Klein arrangement and Shostakovich Violin Concerto #1 (with V. Repin)
and closing with Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. Here is the link to the program and notes:
http://www.philorch.org/styles/poa02e/www/prognotes_20050505.html

Here is Vojtech Saudek's link:
http://www.musica.cz/comp/saudek.htm

I would guess that James Conlon might have performed this work, in Europe, and possibly even recorded it; though I could be wrong.

Thanks for the valuable input. I guess your last s...

2005-07-15T07:04:40.810+01:00

Thanks for the valuable input. I guess your last sentence fairly sums up the reality of classical recording today. I wonder whether the really great recordings such as Solti's Vienna Ring, and Hyperion's first Hildegard disc would been made in a 'risk averse' environment?

The Bartók, Martinů, and Klein are supposed to be ...

2005-07-14T22:11:55.206+01:00

The Bartók, Martinů, and Klein are supposed to be in the can already, recorded in the spring. It is my recollection (from reading the newspapers) that the Bartók and one of the others were in the regular subscription program announced way back when (spring 2004?) and likely planned much earlier; whereas the remaining one was added in anticipation of the "live" recording.

In the USA it seems to have been the normal practice to make recordings only after subscription performances, so I doubt that we would see an increasing link between recordings and concerts. But from the viewpoint of the Philadelphians, I'd think that the alternative to "risk-averse" CDs is no CDs at all.

I was thinking of 'risk averse' in terms of record...

2005-07-14T20:11:28.303+01:00

I was thinking of 'risk averse' in terms of recording policy, because the profit share model is only being applied to recordings at the moment.
But it is an interesting point you raise.
Recordings are increasingly being made live on the back of concert performances (e.g. LSO Live and the new Philadelphia deal). So recording and concert programmes are increasingly becoming linked.
The Klein and Martinu recordings I write about are being made live, so they must be in the Philadelphia programmes. It is interesting to speculate as to whether they are being recorded because they are programmed, or they are programmed because they are being recorded.
Does anyone know if the Klein Partita for Strings is currently in the orchestra's repertoire?

By "the profit share formula makes the programming...

2005-07-14T19:56:05.250+01:00

By "the profit share formula makes the programming risk averse", do you mean (subscription) concert programming, or recorded-CD programming?