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wehecht said:
While I don't agree with Edvin's characterization of Kreizberg's Dvorak, it's true he's no Kertesz. But that is precisely the point. If Decca doesn't issue Fischer's future recordings on sacd what's my motivivation to buy them when I already own multiple rbcd recordings of the standard violin repertoire by great artists of the past and present?
I think that Fischer is an outstanding talent, and I've taken pains to hear her in concert on several occasions. Also I've bought every one of her Pentatone recordings, but except for the Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian concertos, the first of which is the finest I've ever heard and the latter not being otherwise represented in my collection, none of them is indispensable in light of other alternatives already on my shelves. As a general rule only the promise of sound reproduction more closely approximating what I hear in the concert hall justifies my repeated purchases of the core repertoire. For this reason in recent years my rbcd purchases have been limited to less common repertoire, such as most of the Lyrita catalog as it has emerged.
On another note: if it were not for independent labels like BIS, Pentatone, Channel, Hyperion, Albany, Ondine, 2L, et al, right now there wouldn't be a classical recording industry worth talking about. We owe each of these labels and the dedicated music lovers behind them a great debt for their perserverance. A loss for any of them is a loss for all collectors of classical recordings, and Julia Fischer's defection to Decca is a loss indeed.
Bill
Very well put. I couldn't have said it better myself. I wonder how much Julia took the points you mention above into consideration.
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I have been in discussion with Giel Bessels and, whilst he isn't obviously over the moon, he can see potential upsides to this departure and hints that Pentatone has some exciting new artists already being taped for future releases... Let us hope so and that in a short while we will all be wondering what all the fuss was about and that any promotion that Decca give JF also boosts sales of her Pentatone discs.
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Post by Arthur November 6, 2007 (43 of 154)
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threerandot said:
Very well put. I couldn't have said it better myself. I wonder how much Julia took the points you mention above into consideration.
I was about to reply to Bill "I couldn't have said it better myself", but realized I was at the end of the page and hadn't read the further comments. Thanks for beating me to it!
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Post by Edvin November 6, 2007 (44 of 154)
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wehecht said:
While I don't agree with Edvin's characterization of Kreizberg's Dvorak, it's true he's no Kertesz. But that is precisely the point. If Decca doesn't issue Fischer's future recordings on sacd what's my motivivation to buy them when I already own multiple rbcd recordings of the standard violin repertoire by great artists of the past and present?
I think that Fischer is an outstanding talent, and I've taken pains to hear her in concert on several occasions. Also I've bought every one of her Pentatone recordings, but except for the Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian concertos, the first of which is the finest I've ever heard and the latter not being otherwise represented in my collection, none of them is indispensable in light of other alternatives already on my shelves. As a general rule only the promise of sound reproduction more closely approximating what I hear in the concert hall justifies my repeated purchases of the core repertoire. For this reason in recent years my rbcd purchases have been limited to less common repertoire, such as most of the Lyrita catalog as it has emerged.
On another note: if it were not for independent labels like BIS, Pentatone, Channel, Hyperion, Albany, Ondine, 2L, et al, right now there wouldn't be a classical recording industry worth talking about. We owe each of these labels and the dedicated music lovers behind them a great debt for their perserverance. A loss for any of them is a loss for all collectors of classical recordings, and Julia Fischer's defection to Decca is a loss indeed.
Bill
I don´t get it. Do you buy the Fischer recordings only because they are sacd´s or because, as you mention later, because she is an outstanding talent. You won´t buy her future rcordings on rbcd, so her talent isn´t that great. Or?
Yes, we all owe a great deal to the independants, most of them still release the major part on rbcd´s. The Lyritas are rbcd and I am the happy owner of the entire catalogue. But many people here won´t buy rbcd´s because they are not interested in music, "only the noise it makes".
You also say that Fischer´s defection to Decca is a loss indeed. Well, we don´t know that, do we. Maybe in a year or two we can lament what happened, or maybe we are all in for some pleasant surprises. Sacd or not, I don´t really care that much any more.
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Edvin said:
Sacd or not, I don´t really care that much any more.
And you're here again for what reason?
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Edvin said:
I don´t get it. Do you buy the Fischer recordings only because they are sacd´s or because, as you mention later, because she is an outstanding talent. You won´t buy her future rcordings on rbcd, so her talent isn´t that great. Or?
Yes, we all owe a great deal to the independants, most of them still release the major part on rbcd´s. The Lyritas are rbcd and I am the happy owner of the entire catalogue. But many people here won´t buy rbcd´s because they are not interested in music, "only the noise it makes".
You also say that Fischer´s defection to Decca is a loss indeed. Well, we don´t know that, do we. Maybe in a year or two we can lament what happened, or maybe we are all in for some pleasant surprises. Sacd or not, I don´t really care that much any more.
I think the reason I and others are do disappointed is that an artist who has probably given more focus to the SACD format may no longer be recording on that format. We all want to see SACD continue and with Julia as an artist of the year, it certainly may have been a big help to SACD. I still think Decca scooped her up not just to cash in on her success, but to handicap a label like Pentatone, which they may see as some serious competition down the line.
As for not buying Julia on Decca, I do have mixed emotions. On the one hand, Julia is a brillian talent and it may on the surface seem unfair not to buy any RBCDs of her. On the other hand, I personally feel that I would rather spend my dollars on a format that is going to offer more musical enjoyment, dollar for dollar.
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Excerpts from these past articles may help to know how she thinks 'bout recording career.
...As for recording for PentaTone, Julia “had offers from big companies but none appealed. You don’t have to record. Yakov spoke to the people at PentaTone and to me and put us together. PentaTone more or less gave me carte blanche as to what I record and the musicians I work with are my choice; all these things were so important to me. I record to experience something and to help my playing and music-making. (What's Going on in London, 20/04/2005)
...what are the elements that help the career of a young musician? According to Fischer the approach of this question is wrong. "What is helpful for a career is that it is always about the music and not about the career. As soon as a young musician decides for certain reasons to have a career instead of using musical reasons, I can guarantee that it will be - if it will be at all - a short career. I truly believe that if someone wants to spend his professional life with music, he will - either as a soloist, orchestra member, teacher, concert promoter, or agent - in the end it is unimportant. One should choose to become a musician because one believes that the world needs music and without music, the emotional life of human beings is going to die. Everything else will come with dedication and hard work." (PREMIO PAGANINI Newsletter Quarta Corda, February 2006)
When Kreizberg asked her to record with the Russian National Orchestra, she said yes, but privately wondered whether it would come to pass, knowing that such impulsive recording plans often disappear into thin air. Still after their last performance in Philadelphia, Kreizberg already had the dates and suddenly Fischer, who had not even decided whether she wanted to start recording regularly, had a three-year, seven-CD contract with PentaTone, the new high-tech Dutch label headed by former Philips Classics executives, and one of the first labels to embrace the new SACD 5.1-channel surround-sound technology.
Although she still wavered, what decided her to sign on the dotted line was that all the concerto recordings would be conducted by Kreizberg. (Strings magazine, May 2006)
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Post by Edvin November 6, 2007 (48 of 154)
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threerandot said:
I think the reason I and others are do disappointed is that an artist who has probably given more focus to the SACD format may no longer be recording on that format. We all want to see SACD continue and with Julia as an artist of the year, it certainly may have been a big help to SACD. I still think Decca scooped her up not just to cash in on her success, but to handicap a label like Pentatone, which they may see as some serious competition down the line.
As for not buying Julia on Decca, I do have mixed emotions. On the one hand, Julia is a brillian talent and it may on the surface seem unfair not to buy any RBCDs of her. On the other hand, I personally feel that I would rather spend my dollars on a format that is going to offer more musical enjoyment, dollar for dollar.
To be honest, I don´t think Fischer ever had a thought about SACD. As most artists she wanted to make a career, to be heard. It happened to be PentaTone that provided this stairway to heaven. This sacd-club is a small one with very enthusiastic people. We buy everything that is issued on sacd. But the general record buying public cannot spell sacd, they don´t know what it is.
Yes, Decca scooped her up because of the pre-mature artist of the year something. There was a time when Julia Fischer actually took an interest in reviews and questions. I even got her home adress when I wanted to send her a copy of the Bo Linde concerto, she never replied. Maybe the music wasn´t virtuoso enough.
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Post by stvnharr November 6, 2007 (49 of 154)
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My goodness, from reading many of the posts in this thread, one could get the impression that sacd just died, or something.
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This is terrible news, unless Decca somehow resurrects their interest in SACD....HAHAHA, fat chance...what a loss for Pentatone and a loss for us, especially for a company (Decca) who has fallen so far from their glory days...
I wonder just how much Julia Fischer we will see on yucky Decca considering the wonderful releases on Pentatone...
Cheers,
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