Attention focused by the #MeToo movement on high profile conductors including Daniele Gatti and Charles Dutoit has once again raised the question of whether alleged activities away from the podium should negate the value of what a musician achieves on the podium. This is certainly not a new question; but in the past it was ideology rather than intimacy that blighted musical legacies ; with Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Hans Knappertsbusch, Karl Böhm and Clemens Krauss among those whose reputation suffered due to ill-advised political dalliances . Classical music is a transcendent art, so it is no surprise it shares with spiritual teachers a history of debunked leaders. Among the many spiritual leaders who have been found to have toes, if not feet, of clay are Cardinal Donald Wuerl , Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh , Chögyam Trungpa and Shimano Roshi . But in a memoir touching on the life of the controversial mystic and Sufi teacher Reshad Feild , author Bruce Miller makes th...
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But on the EMI business, I just wanted to say that I got a real shock the morning I clicked on my link to the Naxos Music Library and found myself reading a notice that Naxos would henceforth be distributing the EMI catalogue: All of it, from Beatrice Harrison to Leif Ove Andnes. They estimate it will take them three months to add the whole lot to the Library. The Boult recordings added thus far have been enough to keep me occupied for a while, and some I never thought to hear, as also recordings of others. And, I must add, they are now also the distibutor for Virgin. There's significance in here somewhere, though I've not yet fathomed it Perhaps I'm too busy avidly listening.