Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: NAXOS and LUCIFER

As a tribute to *our own* critical Wunderkind Richard “local church
mice are world class people too” Dyer’s latest Rah-Rah session on
behalf of THE AUTHORITY (published Friday, 20 October 2000 in “The
Boston Universe” [er, Globe]), I feel compelled to repost.
As we know, Klaus Heymann of NAXOS fame (see Authority above) was
recently quoted in Opera-L as follows:
< < < Most singers understand that recording opera is extremely
expensive, especially under our perfect studio (not live) conditions
and are happy with our modest flat fees. Look at our Fidelio cast! The
bit about being allowed only two or three takes and no chance of fancy
editing is nonsense ... artists are allowed as many takes as necessary
to get the music right. However, having said that, we expect our
artists to be well prepared unlike many big-name artists who rely on
the producer and editor to produce a good performance.> > >
I ask:
1.  Mr. Heymann seems to have contradicted himself by simultaneously
affirming that his artists are indeed allowed "fancy editing...to get
the music right" and ranting against the "many big-name artists who
rely on the producer and editor to produce a good performance."  What
exactly is the difference?  Isn't fancy editing what earns producers
and editors their bacon, be it at Naxos or Lucifer Records?  Or is Mr.
Heymann whining because Lucifer’s console is bigger than his?
2.  Mr. Heymann seems to have fallen prey to the epidemic virus of
unfounded critical prejudice and the generalizations of character-
assassination (the rate of infection is abnormally high within the
familial fraternity of American critical bedfellows).  His words can be
easily formulized: "Big Name + Big Label = Little Music (or Falsity)".
No need to state the converse: "Little Name + Little Label = Big Music
(or Truth)".  Who exactly are these many unprepared big names?  And
how, where, and when?
3.  THE AUTHORITY was once quoted in "The Boston Globe" as follows:
< < <The market is shifting away from name artists, and the average
music lover is confused by bins crowded by recordings. What is the
difference between Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Chailly
in a given piece? Whatever the difference is, it doesn't mean anything
to the average music lover who gives up and chooses our recording
because it is more reasonably priced, and the performance is just as
good. It is an absurdity for Placido Domingo to sing 'The Barber of
Seville'; our recording is a better performance of the opera. If
Cheryl Studer were to come to me and ask to sing some of the operas she
has recorded, I wouldn't let her.> > >   [HIS CLASSIC IDEA: THE $5.99 CD
KLAUS HEYMANN'S NAXOS LABEL CHALLENGES MIGHT OF THE MAJORS / Author:
Richard Dyer / Date: 01/19/1994 / Page: 61 / Section: LIVING]
I comment and ask:
3A.  Funny that the suits at Lucifer think their barber gives a better
haircut.
3B.  Part of the present-day crisis is that the live and documented
legacies of certain important big-names (those immediately preceding
the generation of today’s “A-list”) literally fell through a
generational crack.  Few artists can survive without some form of
critical and popular encouragement .  It became fashionable sport for
influential critics and their bedfellows to dismiss these artists' work
faster than they could say Compact Disc.  Little wonder so many stopped
listening.  No, they were not Maria or Renata or Joan or Leonie or
Gwyneth and why should they?...Was the backlash really for lack of
quality and artistic worth?  A decade or more later there's panic
amongst critics, industry folk, and fans alike, most shockingly
noticeable among the old and the jaded.  Blitzkrieg-style Public
Relations, Marketing, and now Cheap Labor have been summoned to the
cause of salvaging something from the debris of these “opera lovers’”
own making.  And the armies of businessmen have landed triumphantly
with portfolios chock-full with the truly untriumphant, the untalented,
the homogeneous (ironic?), the thin, the beautiful, the photogenic, the
tiny-voiced, the correct, the obedient, the amplified, the cute
children, the physical handicaps, the sob stories, and so forth.  And
so today's Associated Press A-Team (someone else tried to bring this up
in that Venerable Forum but, alas, the topic fell on deaf ears), the
P®ops, the Little Names, the Wannabes, and the Little Labels that Could
have it relatively easy in comparison.  So much so that it has become
strangely and suddenly Kosher once more to make records: for Naxos,
Rare Opera, Mom & Pop, even for Lucifer, no matter.  But I suppose Mr.
Heymann knew all this then and still does today.
3C.  How exactly is Naxos alleviating the crisis of overcrowding and
confusion amongst consumers?  In opera titles alone they have issued
Boheme, Fidelio, Butterfly, Tosca, Flying Dutchman, Barber of Seville,
Aida, Rigoletto, Magic Flute, and on and on and on.  Correct me if I'm
wrong but these bread and butter works were not lacking in existing
documentation, whether historic or not, distinguished or not, high end
or not.
3D.  "Oh but it does mean something, it does", sez I.  So the "average
music lover" has become the barometer of quality and relevance.  Indeed
they don't deserve Muti, Abbado, or Chailly.  And is the Hulun Hu
Tympany Orchestra really better than Amsterdam, Dresden, Berlin or
Vienna? (although, truth be told, I have heard the Vienna play and
sound like a colony of monkeys under the stick shift of a celebrated
Indian cabdriver).
3E.  And Cheryl Studer, she's not one of the unwashed, is she?  Were
they her contemporaries, would Mr. Heymann have singled out Callas,
Tebaldi, Sutherland, or Caballe, to name but a few, in this context?
After all, they were/are *Daughters of Lucifer*, to our benefit.
Presumably Naxos treats its illustrious roster with more dignity,
respect, and vocal support (no pun intended).  Speaking of vocal
support, perhaps Mr. Heymann is aware that *his own* Floria Tosca
(Madame Nelly MiriAEIOU) reportedly bombed in the same role early this
year in Orange, France AND as Norma at the ROH, London, also this
year.  However, the Tosca and Norma disasters of 2000 strangely failed
to make a dent in the armory of the cognoscenti and their friends in
the media.  For those who do not know, Madame is said to be the
Legitimate Baby of Callas and Naxos, now all grown and matured into a
very, very Rare Opera singer complete with numerous fancifully edited
recordings to her name.  Of another Naxos Untouchable, Madame Ewa, it
is said her German diction (not to mention her Italian) is the worst
this side of Nashville, TN (Naxos' USA headquarters).
4. I have enjoyed Naxos' Caruso Volume I.  I wonder what Mr. Heymann's
authoritative producers and editors would have made of the great man
today for violating at least a couple of standards of sound conduct:
throat-clearing smack in the middle of a take and a glaring false entry
at the beginning of another?  And what of the poor pianist?  Dear God.
Finally, I noticed a recently published book on American music
criticism (the title and author elude me now) which appears to be quite
stimulating and challenging.  I looked in vain for Richard Dyer’s
name.  Not even in a footnote.  What happened?
Sent via Deja.com 
http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

 Dyer’s name.  Not even in a footnote.  What happened?
"Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in America"
by Mark N. Grant
Northeastern University Press, 1998
ISBN 1-55553-363-9
Checked again.  Not a footnote on the man.  Better be careful, he may
start thinking he is above it all.
