Classical Music Most Deserving to be Reissued

I'm trying to get Robert Pincus of Cisco to consider one or more of the following. (It's a shame that AMI doesn't issue its own LPs! My gosh, we could really do a service for our readers—and titles from these labels wouldn't cost a fortune to acquire or press.)

Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1. Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin; Sandra Rivers, piano. MusicMasters 20022.
MusicMasters was the Musical Heritage Society’s retail label (as opposed to its mail-order label, MHS). This wonderful performance of Prokofiev’s most gorgeous sonata was Salerno-Sonnenberg’s first recording, made right after she won the 1981 Naumberg Competition and way before her mannerisms became annoying and the quality of her playing declined. (I believe this disc was also reissued on the MHS label.)

Buddy, you can’t imagine how natural this LP sounds—top to bottom, front to back, everyway you can think of. Gorgeous timbre, lifelike presence, exceptional bass on the piano, terrific dynamics on both instruments—the whole package. On top of which, this is a great performance of great music—the music lover’s trifecta. And from a commercial vantage you’ve got Salerno-Sonnenberg’s first gig, and she’s playing a great and popular piece of music.

Now how much do you think it would cost Cisco to get the rights to Musical Heritage Society mastertapes? I’m betting zip. Press a couple hundred LPs; the magazines get behind the reissue; and everyone ends up happy. Now, doesn’t this sound a little more interesting than a reissue of Peer Gynt or “The Look of Love”?

Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 2. Henryk Szeryng, violin; Jan Krenz, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Philips 6500 421.
Here is another great performer playing another great piece of music that no one will ever reissue. The Szymanowski is an immediately lovable, tuneful, delightful piece of music; Szeryng plays hell out of it; and the sound…I think this record may have the best large-scale dynamics of any LP I’ve ever heard. Whether they jacked up the mikes or not, the orchestral tuttis are overwhelming; and the tone and detail of Szeryng’s fiddle are phenomenal. Once again, I can’t imagine that it would cost a fortune to get the mastertapes of this disc. After all, you’re talking about a relatively little-known composer (though a great one) and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.

Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2. John Ogden, pianist; Lawrence Foster, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. EMI ASD 2709.
Although the Bernstein performance of this—Shostakovich’s most purely beautiful piece of music—is tops, the Ogden is mighty damn fine. Terrific playing. And the sound is phenomenal—EMI’s ASD best. Since the Shostakovich is paired with Ogden’s own, rather thorny piano concerto, I can’t imagine that EMI would ask a ton of bucks for the tapes. Here again—great performance, great music, great sound for next to no dollars.

Gerhard: Astrological Series. David Atherton, London Sinfonietta. Decca Headline 11.
This one’s a little harder sell. Gerhard is one of the century’s great composers, but his music is “difficult” (i.e., atonal) and may not be everyone’s cup of mocha java. HP has long recommended several Gerhard pieces, including The Plague , which is not an easy listen either. These pieces for chamber ensembles are every bit as good as The Plague or the Dances from Don Quixote; the performances are fantastic; and the sound is simply as good as LPs get. This is another truly great-sounding LP, with you-are-there-presence on every instrument, terrific ambience, gorgeous tone color, fantastic dynamics. The whole nine yards. And once again, it would not cost a fortune to reissue.

I will list more candidates in the future.

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What about the Lyrita catalog?

I know that works by lesser known 20th century composers may not fly off the shelves, but the sound quality of these recordings is oftentimes very, very good and I'm surprised by the quality of the performances (and compositions).

Besides those on HP's list, there are a bunch of others worthy of consideration.

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A TAS record club! That is a helluva good idea, Jim! And would, indeed, encourage some of the reissue outfits to take bigger chances on the music they release.

And, Howard, yes, MHS did release a lot of very fine-sounding LPs, including most (or all) of the Lyritas that Jim mentioned. MHS rebadged material from a lot of labels.

Honestly, there is no end of wonderful-sounding vinyl out there from numerous labels large and small--Decca, EMI, Philips, Columbia, Epic, Argo, L'Oiseau Lyre, Lyrita, Decca Head, Nova, Supraphon, Hungaroton, Panton, Fontane, Melodiya, Vox, Turnabout, CRI, MusicMasters, etc., etc., etc.--with wonderful performances of wonderful music.

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From what Robert Pincus has told me, an indie label like Cisco needs to sell about 300-400 LPs to make money, depending, of course, on how much it has paid for the mastertapes.

This might not seem like much, but keep in mind that even in the so-called Golden Age of Vinyl (1958-1964) RCA, for example, typically sold no more than 1000-1500 LPs of most titles! Of course, albums associated with star performers like Heifetz or Rubinstein or Horowitz sold considerably better than that (and kept the RCA Red Seal division in business). But it was the rare, rare, rare classical record that "broke out of category" and became a national or international best-seller (like Van Cliburn's concerto recordings).

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There have been many jazz reissues of late.

What are the half-dozen or so "must haves?"

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jimhannon1 wrote:In the latest issue of TAS, Jonathan Valin suggests that rather than reissuing Peer Gynt yet again, Cisco might want to unlock the vaults of EMI, Argo, Decca Heads, etc. (see page 159). I couldn't agree more.

What are your top selections of great performances/music/sound that merit seeing the light of day again?

What is really needed is an indepth exploration of the many quad recordings from around the '70s. PentaTone is doing that - rereleasing several Philips recordings in their "RQR" series as 4 channel SACDs with mostly fabulous results. Oh, a few are shown up by their newly recorded DSD counterparts, but the sound quality on many is truly amazing!

Now we need to have the same treatment of the EMI, RCA (take a little time off from the excellent Living Stereo series and explore the quad catalog), Supraphon and several other catalogs.

As to vinyl reissues - I am sorely tired of that. I have about 2000-2500 LPs which I will probably never listen to again because compared with a well recorded 4 or 5 channel SACD, those old records are pathetic. Sure, if you have a megabuck front end, you beat the hell out of redbook CDs, but the opposite is true of stereo SACDs and when it comes to well recorded multi-channel SACDS there simply is no contest.

The word "dimensionality" actually has real meaning with these SACDs. With vinyl it is most illusory.

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good day,
I am in possession of a CD MMD 60022Y
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin;
Sandra Rivers, piano.
Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 80
Faure Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major Op. 13 
thank you,
Soumynona

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