Preserving "classical" music

[reith]

The recording and dissemination of classical music has always concerned me because output from the "majors" in the 90s seemed to be diminishing fast. On the rarest occasions, EMI, Polygram, BMG came up with new music. The music-listening world, obsessed with Beethoven and Mozart seemed happy to rest on the several hundred recordings each of the famous works (not forgetting the 900 available versions of the Four Seasons).

Were there enough of us to support the few independent and usually small labels who were purveying anything from ancient music on authentic instruments to new music, some on instruments unimagined last week!

It looks like things are flourishing. Looking through the release list in "International Record Review", the market seems dominated by an increasing number of small labels. Output from the big guys is minimal. So at least they've left the field open for enterprising and hard-working producers on small labels that are usually far more focussed.

Some of these labels are barely more than hobbies for their owners!

Anyway, a talking point. Since most music is disseminated via the media these days it should be of concern to every aspiring composer/performer. Behind all this somewhere, though, is still an amount of live music as witnessed by composers on the Society for the Promotion of New Music site.

[Violoncello]

I understand what you mean. The success of composers depends a lot on the exposure they get and this is caught up with fashion. I have heard that the BBC once - a decade ago - refused to look at anything tonal. The music companies nowadays favour the buyer more than the seller so they push what they think they'll sell.

But I still think that the fashion itself appears because the music buying public are looking for something, maybe something new or something they already know a bit about, and it sticks.

So bravo for these small indies. They provide for the tiny minority. The big labels will perpetuate whatever they can sell. That's why the earlier classical and romantic composers get preserved. The music sells.