The music of a relatively unsung master

No sooner have I written about the 'unsung master' Philippe de Monte than Hyperion release a CD of his motets. Johann Kuhnau is also worth a visit.
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When role models get it wrong

One of the saddest stories of 2007 was the jailing of early music conductor Robert King for almost four years for sexually abusing minors between 1982 and 1995. For many, including his agents, Robert King is now history. Type his name as a search on the Harrison Parrott website and this is the response - 'Sorry, we couldn't find a match for your search words. Please try again.'

But trying again elsewhere produces the same result. Go to the website of the eponymous ensemble that the acclaimed conductor founded and you will find history rewritten. Founder Robert King's name is deleted totally from the history of the King's Consort', although they are still happy to profit from online sales of his CDs. Thank heavens for Hyperion, who are one of the few organisations happy to maintain their links with this important musician.

Different treatment for a role model that got it wrong is reported in today's Guardian. In a story that starts 'When your performance is measured by how fast you can drive on the track, sticking to speed limits in your private life can be a bit of a nuisance' the paper reports that Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton was fined €600 and had his license suspended for a month for driving at 122mph in an 80mph speed limit in northern France.

Lewis Hamilton has received wide media coverage as a role model for young Black people, but that is not important apparently. Speaking about the motoring offence a spokesperson for Hamilton's employer Team McLaren said "We were made aware that Lewis was stopped for speeding in France whilst driving in a private capacity. We understand he has received a mandatory fine and suspension from driving in France for one month."

I am not contesting the pain and damage caused by sexual abuse, and I have have actively championed black role models here. But could Team McLaren, and others, please remember, as Christmas approaches, that a thousand people are killed every year in Britain alone by speeding drivers, and that also means a dreadful amount of pain and damage to innocent families?

Passing sentence on Robert King, Judge Hezlett Colgan told King: "Your victims were in their early or mid-teens at the time." So are many of the victims of speeding drivers. Perhaps role model Lewis Hamilton should be made aware that sticking to speed limits really isn't such a nuisance, even in a private capacity? By the same token, in this season of goodwill, the classical music community could reflect for a moment on the contribution made by Robert King.

If you still need convincing follow this link.
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Max Reger - more conspicuous than Schoenberg

'In the very early years of the twentieth century Max Reger held a more conspicuous place in Austro-German music than Schoenberg; certainly he was far more productive, especially of instrumental music. Several of his works are sets of variations culminating in a fugue, but contrapuntal energy is almost omnipresent, driving through dense harmonic textures. He acknowledged his source in making piano arrangements of Bach’s music, as indeed did Busoni, a musician of mixed German-Italian background best known at this period as a virtuoso pianist' ~ from A Concise History of Western Music by Paul Griffiths (Cambridge University Press ISBN 139780521842945).

Max Reger, seen in the photo above playing the organ in 1913, died on May 11 1916 aged 43

Now Playing ~ Variations and Fugue on a theme of J S Bach played Marc-André Hamelin piano. This excellent Hyperion disc of Reger’s piano music also includes his Variations and Fugue on a theme of Georg Philipp Telemann, and Five Humoreques. Wonderful sound from the beautiful acoustics of St George’s, Brandon Hill, Bristol.

For another view on Reger’s status read music history rewritten.
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Paying the piper

The question as to what is a reasonable reward for those involved in the creation of music is a fascinating one. I have been reading Fiona Maddock's excellent life of Hildegard of Bingen , and it offers an interesting perspective on the reward for intellectual property creation, which may also just be relevant to the Sawking versus Hyperion court case.

In 1983 Hyperion recorded a collection of sequences and hymns by Hildegard titled A Feather on the Breath of God. The music was edited and directed by Christopher Page, and sung by Gothic Voices (which included Andrew Parrott and Emma Kirkby). The sound engineer on the recording said at the end of the session, 'Lovely music, shame no one will buy it." To remind you just how lovely the music is here is a five minute Real Audio sample linked from Hyperion's web site.

The book says Christopher Page was paid the princely sum of £45 (80 US dollars) for the recording.

A Feather on the Breath of God went on to win a Gramophone Award, became a Classic CD Magazine 'Top 100 CD of all time', and was the Guardian 'Choral record of the year'. It kickstarted the whole Hildegard and chant industry, sold half a million copies, and presumably made a shed load of money for Hyperion. Twenty two years later it is still in the catalogue at full price.

Now I have a great admiration for Hyperion. And I know that for every Feather on the Breath of God there are many, many similar recordings whose sales don't even register on the Richter scale. But it does make you think doesn't it?

If you enjoyed this post take an overgrown path to Hyperion Records face 'catastrophic' damages bill

Piracy in Early Music

After the Hyperion versus Sawkins case here is a tale of more skullduggery in the Early Music world. Back in December I bought the recording of the Morales Requiem performed by Musica Ficta on the Spanish Enchiriadis label. I find it a very good interpretation, and was researching on the internet to write a piece about it for On An Overgrown Path when I came across the following on the Cantus Records web site....................

Piracy against Cantus
Last July 2002 the Provincial Court of Madrid dictated sentence (which cannot be appealed) in favour of Cantus in the lawsuit against the label Enchiriadis, who had committed an act of piracy against Cantus in December 2000. In that date, the pirate label released a recording that had been stolen in our offices by an ex partner of us. Then they published the recording, which more or less corresponds to our ref. C 9627 Morales: Requiem, performed by Musica Ficta and Raúl Mallavibarrena.

They used a pre-editing of the final master, full of mistakes, and tried to present it as if it was the original recording and their copyright. And although the sentence of the Provincial Court of Madrid is in our favour, nor the label nor their distributor, Diverdi (and their international subdistributors) have yet retired the pirate recording from the market. This has obliged Cantus to use penal prosecution and proceed against the label Enchiriadis, Diverdi and all international distributors of the label, as they are dealing with illegal material.

All early music lovers are kindly advised by Cantus not to buy at all the pirated version. Firstly because it is illegal, secondly because the Cantus presentation, translations and inner booklet is far superior, and thirdly because the pirated version contains a large number of mistakes, childish mistakes, because it was manufactured using a stolen pre-edited version! While we try to effectively contact international distributors of the label that has committed piracy in order to retire all illegal Cds from international market, Cantus cannot accept any responsibilities if customers find the pirate version deceitful, as they will most probably do.

Despite this ruling in 2002 retailers including Amazon.com and Prelude Records here in Norfolk continue to stock the Enchiriais version - strange....

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