Recently in News

Latest news

 

Bizet’s Carmen Uncovered

https://boydellandbrewer.com/bizet-s-i-carmen-i-uncovered.html

The Operas of Sergei Prokofiev

https://boydellandbrewer.com/the-operas-of-sergei-prokofiev.html

Incoming Artistic Director Rosetta Cucchi announces her 2020 programme inspired by William Shakespeare and the launch of the Wexford Factory Academy for young Irish singers

https://www.wexfordopera.com/media/news/incoming-artistic-director-rosetta-cucchi-announces-her-2020-programme

Music In The Present Tense: Rossini’s Italian Operas in Their Time

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo43988096.html

The Last Opera: The Rake’s Progress in the Life of Stravinsky and Sung Drama

http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=809636

Prokofiev’s Soviet Operas

https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/music/twentieth-century-and-contemporary-music/prokofievs-soviet-operas?format=HB

The Operas of Benjamin Britten – Expression and Evasion by Claire Seymour

https://boydellandbrewer.com/the-operas-of-benjamin-britten.html

The Opera Singer’s Acting Toolkit

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-opera-singers-acting-toolkit-9781350006454/

The real Traviata. The Song of Marie Duplessis

https://h-france.net/vol18reviews/vol18no52palidda.pdf

Glyndebourne announces new Artistic Director

http://www.operatoday.com/content/2018/08/glyndebourne_an.php

BLACK OPERA: HISTORY, POWER, ENGAGEMENT

A musical challenge to our view of the past

Die schöne Müllerin by Mark Padmore

Opera Rara - How to Rescue a Lost Opera

https://vimeo.com/operarara/how-to-rescue-an-opera

Welsh National Opera explores Madness for autumn season

 

New Releases from Opera Rara

 

A Time-Out With Isabel Leonard: In 'L'Heure Espagnole' at San Francisco Symphony

 

On Site Opera Presents 'Barber of Seville' at Fabbri Mansion on New York’s Upper East Side

 

Il Trittico: Puccini's most underrated opera

 

Bizet's Carmen | English National Opera

 

OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »

News

01 Jan 2005

Classical Music Sales Looking Up

A Year When Classical Labels Came Through By ANTHONY TOMMASINI In 2003, the problems affecting the classical recording business seemed daunting: markets flooded with multiple versions of the standard repertory; declining sales; widespread layoffs in the offices of the major...

A Year When Classical Labels Came Through

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

In 2003, the problems affecting the classical recording business seemed daunting: markets flooded with multiple versions of the standard repertory; declining sales; widespread layoffs in the offices of the major labels; ill-conceived moves by controlling conglomerates to cut losses that only made matters worse.

Still, during that sobering year, many companies, to their credit, adjusted their priorities, focused anew on releasing albums that added something of artistic merit to the discography, and generally realized that smaller could in fact be better.

Several companies also pledged to take innovative steps within the next year to deal with the financial realities, steps that might find opportunity amid the challenges. So, now that 2004 has past, it's time to see whether the companies are keeping their promises. In several cases they are following through, as a crop of welcome recent recordings makes clear.

For example, in early January of 2003 there was an article in this newspaper about the looming expirations of copyright protections in Europe for countless classic recordings from the 1950's. In the United States such copyrights last 90 years, at least for now, while advocates for public domain access and defenders of the rights of production companies continue to slug it out in the courts. But in Europe, copyrights for recordings expire after 50 years. This means that starting now and during the next decade landmark 1950's recordings by artists ranging from Maria Callas to Elvis Presley are coming into the public domain in Europe. Since American retailers routinely stock imported European records, especially classical albums, such releases are already showing up in the stores.

[Click here for remainder of article.]

Send to a friend

Send a link to this article to a friend with an optional message.

Friend's Email Address: (required)

Your Email Address: (required)

Message (optional):