Future shock
La Cieca knows the cher public will be intrigued to hear that tomorrow night (Monday, November 16), NYC’s downtown classical music venue Le Poisson Rouge will offer a screening of Cecilia Bartoli in a live concert, filmed September 10, 2009.
Meanwhile, in honor of this cinematic event, your doyenne is launching a parterre competition for you. Details of both are after the jump.
According to the Poisson Rouge website,
This once-in-a-lifetime concert celebrates the launch of her newest album, Sacrificium
. Filmed in the private theater of the Royal Palace in Caserta, Italy just outside of Naples, the film features Bartoli performing a number of arias from the album with Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini.
The Poisson Rouge event will also include the introduction of the “Castratini” cocktail, door prizes and “much more.”
And what of the competition, you ask? Well, La Cieca was just thinking that La Bartoli’s recording career began in 1989 with the release of her Rossini Arias disc, making her one of the first classical artists whose career has transpired entirely in the CD era. We’ve seen many changes in classical music recording over these past two decades, and what La Cieca would like for you to do, cher public, is to present your ideas (in the comments section below) on what classical music recording will be like another two decades hence, in the year 2029.
Your doyenne is looking for clear reasoning and entertaining, vibrant writing (as if she needs to tell you), and the commenter she judges best presents his or her ideas will win an autographed copy of Bartoli’s Sacrificium, provided by First Chair Promotion.
Deadline for eligible comments is midnight, Tuesday, November 17.
there’s also a competition in which you can win a used copy autographed by SQUIRREL …
just kidding, la cieca – feeling cheeky tonight!
I’m intrigued and my mind is already racing. What is the deadline for the competition?
Thanks for reminding me! As noted above, you have until midnight on Tuesday (a little more than 48 hours from now).
Wait, the post says 11-27. Are you meaning 11/17?
11/17.
Thanks for the clarification Cieca cara.
So, how do I see the future? Well, I believe that to see the future we only need to look at the past to see ourselves. Right now, given the discussions that we have had in the past, in this blog and in other opera discussion groups, all I see is the CD generation lamenting the fact that the new generation will not have the way to browse the way we did inside a store. Sound familiar? It should…
In the advent of the CD era, the LP generation was lamenting that many of the artists and recordings they came to love and worship were going to be relegated to scratchy recordings because the CD generation would only have ears for THEIR artists. There was also talk of how would the new generation be able to learn and love the artists of past eras if they were not going to be available, or that the CD generation would not know of the riches because the CD store would not have the variety of the LPs. or that the network of lovers would disappear and the pirates would die; and with them, the artists who did not secure recording contracts.
Guess what? the sky didn’t fall; the recordings were eventually released on CD. Leila Gencer is still the queen of the pirates, just now she reigns in Opera d’oro. Now we have torrents and Rapidshare.com and many other networks of lovers who instead of using printed copies use the web to trade. Even the Sills Norma (and the Moffo Thais, albeit in Japan) have been released. Now, instead of special ordering and waiting for weeks to see if the recording shows up in the local Sam Goody, we Google it, see if it is available in a torrent, or if Amazon Japan (or France, UK) has it. If that is not an option, we have iTunes, Arkive, or several other specialty stores that could allow us to download it immediately, or get it to us in less than 5 days, provided we pay the fee.
So, how do I see the future? Well, the future is here; and it has gone digital! The CD will likely die the same slow death the LP did, and in the hands of the same assassin. Who gives a fuck? Music will likely go digital and online download stores will replace the Sam Goodies of old. People will go on the web, research the piece and in no time flat it will be available to them in some peer-to-peer version (pirates will never die, they are the lifeline of those who are beyond passionate), or available for download in some online store. The next generation will not have CD’s, they will have hard drives. What? don’t believe me? What do you think your iPod is but a miniature hard drive to carry your music? memory is getting cheaper and smaller, a year ago a 1T hard drive was 200-300, now it is half that because we now have 2T! (my mouth waters….)
So, here is an imagined scenario between my niece and my sister:
-I don’t know what’s up with you guys, in my days we had CD stores! I don’t see what you people see in downloading all these music. Where do you keep it? See? here are my CD’s, I can touch them, smell them, see them. Where’s your music again?
- Auntie, why can’t you be more like uncle? Damn, you are so old fashioned. Damn! The CD is dead, we now go to EMI.com and download the music directly from the store. if EMI doesn’t have it, the artist website will stream it, or I can go to isharemyshit.prt.com and someone will have it. See this thing here? is a 300 Gig 10th generation iPod. It plays the music, stores it, I can move it wiresly to the car, and to any of my friend’s iPods, it records and damn, I can even call uncle with it. I have no idea how you can still manage with your 4th generation. I could not deal with that dinasour. Damn you are old!
- Uncle Lindoro, you are not going to believe what auntie came up with…
- I know, I know, you would never believe that she is barely 11 months younger than me. That woman makes me feel like I am 50 and not 120. Did you get the Leila Gencer files I sent you? Wasn’t she the shit? Now, here are some files from Angelina del Ribeiro. This bitch is gonna be huge.
- But I like Netrebko
- What? You are listening to WHO? Don’t make me go there and beat some sense in you girl.
So there you have it. Music is going digital and the sooner we adapt to it, the sooner we will be able to create the avenues that the younger generation will be using to get their music and the sooner we will be able to retire.
Lindoro,
while I agree with you on the evolution you establish from the LP to CD era, I don’t think the CD will so easily die on us. What you mention about the people being able to “touch it, smell it,…” is true and I think that’s a common thought that keeps people buying it. I, for instance, I’m 25 and I grew up with Cassetes and then with CD’s, and well, now with digital music. But you know what? I never download classical music albums. Pop music and other genres, yes, I have surrendered to the digital formats, but with classical music there’s the booklet and usually the information in brings about the content of the release is so useful that it does feel like a book to me.
I think this will keep classical music on CD for a much longer time than what we may expect. The labels are realizing this and a prime example are Bartoli’s CD’s (since we’re at her). Her 2 latest releases – “I think I know how Malibran sounded” and “If I were a boy without my balls” – all came with very informative text contents (even if the photo-shoots aren’t exactly tasteful) and in appealing book formats. This appeals not only to the consumer’s sense of having something but also to the sense that, in a way, they own a book with bonus CD’s.
Much of the future of Classical Music recordings lies on that, I believe. Pop artists can’t really rely on that because, honestly, their music doesn’t have anything much interesting to say about it and the overall quality of the lyrics is becoming so crappy that you can learn it after 2 listens, so yes. For Pop music I’d say the future is completely digital.
For classical music, as long as the labels keep providing us with nice packages and informative booklets, I think that physical formats will survive.
“Oh but you can read a book on PDF, nowadays”. Well true. But how many people have the patience to read books on the computer? I really don’t know but I have none… Even college things I’m given in PDF format, I always print because I like to write down my notes with a pencil and I hate reading stuff on the computer.
Anyway, that’s how I see it. And besides!!! Let’s not forget that a true opera queen does enjoy to have a good-looking CD shelf. You certainly will not impress your guests during dinner with an iTunes library, but if there is a considerable CD collection in your living room, everyone will say “oooh, that’s quite a collection you have there, can I see it?”.
CD’s may not last forever, but it is human nature to be curious and to want to touch and feel things, so I don’t think the digital will conquer that easily!
“Have you listened to Tiago Netrebko-Schott’s ‘Cecilia’ yet? You can download it from the iChip in my ear if you want. It’s a tribute to this forgotten castrato of the late 20th century. I know, you wish TNebs would cover more staples of the mainstream repertory like Wainwright and Verdi, but I think the work he’s been doing resurrecting the art of forgotten singers and composers is really worthwhile.
You should have seen his mother in her prime! 3DHoloTube really doesn’t do her legendary recording of “Happy Birthday Deutsche Grammophon And Many Many More Years Of Great Musing We All Expecting From You” justice; you had to see it, like I did, in its original YouTube form to really get the nuances.”
If that stupid video shows up 20 years from now, I’m going to shoot my 3DHoloTube.
Don’t you JUST LOVE all this ‘lovely ever- more compacting technology’. All this down loading, all this invisibility of a product… you see it is somewhere on your hard drive???!!
Got your all vinyl and cDs and also transferred them to the harddrive then sold the lot off…. Ain’t you a genius?????
THEN ONE DAY……your computer hard drive collapses…. IT IS ALL GONE….Do you contact all those companies, at least that you paid a fee to download their material and explain the situation?
Surely they will check for the proof amongst their records for the tranactions……like fun!!!!
Why did SACD not have a real hope of getting off the ground? Many of the companies ‘upgraded in stone’ their stored open reel master tapes into the wrong digital configuration and then let the original tapes ‘go west’. Now even if they wanted to, they could not go back and restart the correct upstaging process to SACD! Oh! A little oversight….. a little ignorance.
I believe it is the job of enthusiasts to store and PRESERVE …..akin to the people in Bradbury’s book Fahenheit 451 where they, (individual people) -each memorize a book -cover to cover -for handing on to another,and posterity since books are banned by the authorities.
The best hope is collectors -preserving original copies and to make another for an interested collector, if the work becomes extinct. Yes there are quirky collectors around with mint unplayed vinyl copies of operas dating back to the sixties, as spares! I ask: from the down turn_over the years I.E Where is the French Erato label and its complete treasure trove of operas?? Nowhere to be seen. Lucky for those that purchased them when they were available.
Corporations are only interested in making dollars with what they possess or comes into their hands. Look the material that is already unavailable. Locked in their vaults, mislaid, or locked up with vague copyright. One is willing to buy if something is available, I have no ‘truck’ with that. Sony with their new “Sony Opera House series” , budget priced re -releases of a multitude of things is to be commended, for going against the traditional tide that had formed. Buyers are in ‘for a treat’.
Availability generally: Europe has a 50 year copyright Law, The U.s and those countries that have signed a joint trade agreement are locked into a 75 year copyright. And the late Sonny Bono was pushing for a 95 year one! And if they decide not to release something………’some artists live or dead, are then doomed to anonymity, if fans do not do a transfer perhaps, for another friend. Piracy, though I am against it…. gained ground because the companies first laid it out as a mother of invention……and necessity.
Well, it’s generally 50 years for performers as far as Europe goes, and that’s from the date of initial recording or broadcast/ availability; but for authors (which includes music producers and composers) copyright subsists for 70 years following their death. EU member states may, however, extend these time limits.
You can expect ageing pop stars and TV actors to turn up in the newspapers on occasion, pushing for an extension to performance protection.
Apologise for that last long rant: computer based music…….AH!
Love the ‘Back to the Future’ photo with Bartolo. Brings back memories of tht old TV show ‘The Time Tunnel’ where creatures and things of the past escaped from the portal into the control laboratory. Shit! The escapee just got hold of Bartoli and is going to give her her just punishment: for all that pretentious Baroque twaddle she has been promoting, of late. She deserves a good wacking.
“Scream Cecilia – as you always do, it won’t do you no good, now!”
Computer Based Music?
httpv://video.google.com/videosearch?client=safari&rls=en&q=milton%20babbitt&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#
sorry
thanx for the philomel.
I looked for squirrels amidst the trees but saw none.
much better than that godawful kafka fragments, I say.
I’m just listening to Sacrificium (for professional purposes only). Can’t wait for it to end. Who listens to this stuff? And she is really quite dull after a minute or so.
The Le Poisson Rouge Event ….going to serve a new cocktail called Castratini Cocktail?
No doubt, with not one…. but two skewered spare olives. We can’t have a ‘rigged’ cocktail, can we? Should suit the camp presentation: depicting and complimenting the equally campy style of the performer.
If it is called a Castratini, it will have the skewer (a short one) but no olives.
Lindoro Almaviva: Why not? Surely they have plenty of ’spare cracked nuts’ available for the cocktail, being imported from somewhere, for such a promotion? And to think this is -I assume -a top social occasion for glitterati wannabees.. What’s the World coming to?
If not, the place shroud be called Le Herring Rouge.
Who know if there will even be any new classical music releases by 2029.
Sad news today: The Washington Blade and several other gay newspapers shut down, quite unexpectedly.
http://www.dallasvoice.com/instant-tea/2009/11/16/a-sad-day-for-lgbt-media-washington-blade-southern-voice-reportedly-shuttered/
Probably in 2015 the final illegal music download will be made resulting in critical mass and the financial collapse of the entire music industry. Any musician who doesn’t have a perfume line to fall back on will have to settle for work operating a leaf blower.
When I hear promising young singers, I wonder how many of them will have a sustainable livelihood. The singers who specialize in chamber and other smaller-scaled works may have the brightest future.
There may still be demand two decades hence for the next great Aida (if we can ever find her) or Tristan (wherever he may be). But I look at opera audiences and mostly see the Medicare generation and a few gay boys, but not enough of an audience in between. So I hope today’s young music students are realistic enough to have double majors.
With the decreasing attention span and desire for instant gratification amongst youth, in 20 years classical music companies may be tweeting entire operas.
Double major on Vocal Performance and Voice Teaching
Your concerns are very realistic, Jay. If you could only imagine the amount of divos and divas at College convinced they’re the next (insert celebrated singer name here) and while most of them do have promising and easy instruments, they’re not very intelligent which basically makes things like a 20 years old baritone launch into “Per me giunto” and “Di provenza” when he should be basically singing Handel and Mozart. Result? He’s 20 and sounds like 60 years old man. This is the common reality in music colleges, unfortunately.
A couple of months ago, I was singing for Caballé on her masterclasses in Spain and everyone there was under 33, but many of them, and an alarming degree of “many” already manifested signs of aging on the voice: wobble, lack of ringing, wild register breaks…
But I don’t loose hope either on my potential or in the opera system. While I’ll probably never make it to La Scala or to the Met (unless they need someone to hand the singers water bottles
) I know that time will do its work (I’m only 25) and that if I keep working and being careful I can in a few years enjoy a nice career! Caballé seemed to think the same. About the opera system, I think it will reach a point on which the opera houses will no longer have young singers anxious for stardom burning themselves before the time comes because, hopefully, people will become smarter. Maybe by that time, all those singers we keep talking of today and who don’t get the recognition they deserve, will be around to fill the gap while a younger generation learns from the mistakes of the past.
I believe that there will be more self funded projects along with studio releases (like the Bartoli) of rare material, historically important discoveries or important niche projects that will enhance their reputation based on some perceived selflessness to loose money for the art.
I know of at least 2 singers who got the funding for their recordings, hired the orchestras and made it happen: Ana maria Martinez Naxos aria recital and Robin Follman’s verismo recording. Now, while these are rare, I believe that in the future we might have these kind of sponsored recordings. (Coca Cola presents Elisabeth Alagna)
I think also that the recording industry has something to learn from the DVD industry. Live recordings of specific casts, released digitally on the Opera house’s label. I believe that just as the Met was leading the way with the HD-casts, their association with Real Player and their distribution of old broadcasts on their service will keep some of the audio recordings going.
I believe that in the future, an successful opera company will hire a great cast and record the performances, then distribute them digitally on their website, iTunes and other outlets at reduced prices. Information on operas and librettos is readily available on the web, so there will be a day when booklets will disappear all together because other people have already done the research and published on the web.
I believe that the DVD will see the same over saturation that the CD saw. There will be a time when people will think: Do I really need anothet DVD of Rosenkavalier when I have Fleming, Stemme, Schwartzkopf, and God knows who else already in my lybrary taking up precious space?
Even the DVD will see the end of the road and as memory gets cheaper and smaller, companies will find a way to not release stuff in costly DVDs when they can be hosted in servers for people to download into their 20T memory cards.
THEN ONE DAY……your computer hard drive collapses…
While there is always the danger of that, CDs were never the solution that came down from heaven. Yes, they are stable, but they are prone to scratches and malfunctions just like any hardware. Does anyone remember a couple of years ago how Nuova era CD were malfunctioning left and right due to bronzing? Also, I am sure I am not the only one who bought a copy of The Art of Beverly Sills Vol. 1 who saw with horror how the paint in the printing on top of the CD peeled off pretty much rendering the CD (now impossibly out of print) unplayable. hgard drives are more and more stable and companies are looking for ways to ensure that information is kept safe, even digitally. Lastly, as problems arise, consumers will challenge company policies and the successful ones (or the ones who have a clear understanding of customer service) will find ways to ensure that a customer does not loose digital information that they bought from them due to a hardware malfunction.
The album concept is already dying and the increasing acceptance of electronic distribution will only hasten its demise, at least as we have understood “albums” for the last 60-70 years. Classical music artists are already releasing short works via iTunes (e.g., Janine Jansen playing Bach’s Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord; Adès’s Violin Concerto) before the recordings are made available as albums. Sometimes, the recordings are never released as a compact disc but remain available exclusively as digital downloads. Consumers will retain the ability to “burn” their purchases to whatever tangible, portable medium replaces the CD. They will also be able to backup or archive their music on their own storage device like a hard drive.
Recital discs featuring full orchestral accompaniment will probably remain cost-prohibitive for a recording of just a handful of arias. If artists or labels go to the trouble and expense of engaging an orchestra, they will probably want to make the most of the event by recording as many arias as possible in the time allotted. But I imagine that singers who record with just a pianist, a quartet, or a chamber orchestra will be able to get their recordings into (onto?) the online stores. For them, it might make sense to keep up public interest by releasing one aria or three at a time. Such a release schedule could also make recording worthwhile between flights as they jet from country to country for in-person performances.
Digital downloads will enable listeners to create more flexible music collections, as it is becoming the case already. People will be able to buy just the tracks they like, enabling them to assemble operas featuring their favorite singers singing their favorite versions of the works. Like “Sempre Libera” from the Callas Lisbon Traviata but the “Ah, non più” from the 1955 Live La Scala recording? iTunes (or its equivalent) will be able to blend them together into one seamless listening experience.
Not only do I think that labels will offer this ability someday, I think they will HAVE to offer this or something like it to stay competitive. Software they don’t control already allows listeners to mix multiple songs into one track. To collect some of the money out there now going to others (or to no one), they will have to offer valued-added features. Like the old pirates and rumored tapes of notorious productions that have come out into the open for profit, labels will ultimately have to learn to get along to keep the interest of opera fans willing to pay. Eventually, consumers will be able to combine performances from artists who had recorded exclusively for different labels, creating their own individual dream casts. Before that day arrives, the ability to have a singer duet with herself in different roles from the same opera will become a reality.
Before that day arrives, the ability to have a singer duet with herself in different roles from the same opera will become a reality.
Kennedy Center honoree Grace Bumbry, bringing you the future…yesterday:
Grace rules — whether as princess or slave.
The future is now.
VIRTUAL OPERA THEATER
Welcome to Virtual Opera Theater, your digital opera source. You dream it, we deliver it.
[Disclaimer: the virtual version will be recreated using sampling technology. Our sampling technology is the most sophisticated yet offered commercially, including aural ambience of selected theatres. Where artists have multiple performances in our data base, the sampling with be more comprehensive. Your final price will reflect processing time and depends on the complexity of your request.]
Please enter the name of the opera:
[Once the name of the opera is entered, a list of the roles appears]
Please enter the name of the singer you wish in the Role Window and press select.
[After the singers are selected, another window appears:]
Please enter a conductor:
Once you have chosen your conductor you can select either Opera House or Orchestra.
[If you select by Opera House, you get their chorus. If you select an orchestra you must also select a chorus.]
The audio-only component ends here.
If you wish a DVD, please select continue.
Please select a stage director.
Once the Director is selected, you may opt for the director’s choice of sets and costumes, or select your own designers.
If you wish to select your own set and costume designers, press continue.
[In February this tree will go deeper, extending to make up and wigs]
When you have specified your virtual opera, press the CREATE button.
Please wait. Do not navigate away from this window while the processing is completed.
Your virtual opera is complete. Select CONTINUE for delivery options.
Finally, the Tudor Trilogy starring Sills and Horne!
Lindoro Almaviva (10#) I must correct a few points you make about the CD longevity issue.
I have closely followed the recording indudstry and its processes for nearly 5 decades. I was given the gift of my first opening gramophone at age six, so passionate that I was. The degrading or the ‘bronzing’ as it was termed of a very small number of CDs released at one period was caused by some out sourcing by major companies to small plants. (To some, here – do not confuse this problem ‘if you have some of those genuine ‘gold’ colored CD discs in your collection from some companies) In just one known classic instance the ‘bronzing from the silver’ problem was traced back to a company working not to laid down specification-instead of following through the normal CD processes – short cut and applied a similar looking, but entirely different coating to the label area surface. It degraded by oxidation, and ‘fractured’ allowing the laser beam to see ‘nothing’. Then there were also cases of air bubbles, traced in the finished product. It affected the released product of a few companies who had sub-let some of their work.. If a CD is thought faulty, hold the playing side up over the top of a light in a darkened room. If you see ’starlight twinkles’ coming through the label side…possible trouble the CD player’s error mechanism cannot cope.
Since we are all into opera here, a word of special warning worth taking heed of;
Over the years the record companies took great trouble to present ‘de-luxe’ looking presentations. You can open the plastic multi disc CD boxes holding the actual CDs and find ‘cushions of sponge poly foam’ as well to protect them, packed.
GET THIS “SHIT” OUT OF THE BOXES NOW -if you want them to keep for many more years. It denatures over time. (A changing of its original color is a sure sign – usually from silvery white all the way to a sticky chocolate brown). It shrinks, goes ’sticky to the touch’ in some cases and if left, can ADHERE to the CDs -everything from leaving a slight ‘print’ to ripping and damaging the label . If you have that ‘hand print type mark’ situation left on the label, leave well enough alone. I know of no safe CD solvent to remove it ….short of ruining the CD.
As for also worrying about the clutter of DVDs from collecting one day. already there are at least two new patented copyrights for very advanced forms of Blu-Ray type discs. One has the potential of at least 6 times the storage capacity of an existing (50mb) Blu Ray – that of a figure of 300mb.
As for scratching, just look at how ’some clowns’ handle CDs and then ‘bang’ them into players??
I may have at least 7000 but I know of not one, that has a mark or scratch. And it would show up…I examine every one even for a speck of dust , before it enters a player? Broken ‘center sprockets’ holding a CD in its case, if found,; the CDs are immediately given a new case.
What’s so novel about this presentation / ‘or soiree type ‘having a ball’ -launch’ of Bartoli’s DVD., recorded in some vague ‘palace’? Nothing, except for the sound of munching! ! Reminds, of situations where one sees a lamp post poster for some coming live rock gig at some bar or pub of an unknown rock band celebrating the release of their own produced CD. They probably rehearsed for ‘the studio recording’ for months in some Dad’s backyard garage. Palace or pub…..same sales method. Except, one is not serving imaginary ‘ball floaters’.
Bartoli should take a leaf out of darling Marlena Dietrich’s book. At a hotel press conference once, where she was staying, whilst still performing…in the middle of this meeting, the hotel tried its own promotion. In, came some dame from the Hotel, with a new ice cream creation (shaped like an apple). She announced to all present :- made in honor of and for Marlena : as ‘Apple Marlena’. She then proceeded to go on with a spiel that ‘we know how Eve tempted Adam with an apple’. Ms Dietrich rather displeased- then grabbed it out of the woman’s hands and unceremoniously dumped it on the floor! The Press Conference then continued with the no-nonsense Marlena.
Harry–
I notice that happened to the foamy inserts in one of my Parsifals–is there any way to clean off what remains on the discs? It doesn’t seem to effect playing, but there’s definitely some stuff left there.
My other packaging peeve is the way the little center sprockets break off, leaving the disk to bang around in the case.
Pelleas, I have the same problem with a Gotterdammerung, i.e., the foam is encrusted on the CDs and I can’t get it off. If you know of a solution my email is loge44@aol.com. Thanks!
I think that we’ve been side-stepping the issue a little bit here. Technology changes. That’s a given. We know for a fact that while early recordings of Rosa Ponselle and Enrico Caruso can capture sensitive Italianate phrasing and certain aspects of quality musicianship, the sound quality is—how do I put it?—crap. We’ve gone from that to 45s and LPs and on to cassettes and CDs. Now, we can, if we choose—and I do choose—to listen to a lot of music on YouTube or download it with questionable legality and ethical justification from numerous Torrent programs
But the means of recording themselves are beside the point, because even the binary code-digital encryption of the human voice on a CD or hard drive does not begin to compare with the full-on sonic glory of a Deutsche Grammophon LP blasted through my speakers and reverberating off my drywall. What we really need to have a look at is how classical music is distributed, and how those changing means of distribution mediate our perceptions of, and relationship with, live performance.
Opera and classical music are not different from pop just because of musical style or the methods of production. Pop music itself is a phenomenon of recorded music, and exists because of it. Classical singing, on the other hand, exists, in many ways, in spite of recording. Even though Cecilia Bartoli’s career might exist because of recording, the sound of her voice is—theoretically—the same on record as it is in live performance. The same can almost never be said about pop music. In classical recording, what we listeners seek is a representation of what we would hear live, so that we can conjure up in our minds the experience of being in a concert hall and experience sound firsthand, not filtered through a digital recording mechanism. In pop music—which has given us the glories of the Beatles and Janis Joplin and Hendrix and the COMPLETELY kick@$$ Lady Gaga (holy shit she is insane but incredibly awesome)—the recording is often the gold standard by which we measure live performance.
The question, therefore, is not how sounds will change on record or whether or not we will have better or different recording technology, but what that technology allows us to do. And it lets us do a hell of a lot. Gone are the days—which I never lived—when one had to sit alone and listen to a recording, or actually be in the physical presence of people in order to share the experience. Blogs, YouTube, and other means of musical distribution and information dissemination have allowed us experiences of musical communion that would not be possible otherwise, and thank God for those experiences. We can have conversations in real time, can comment on videos and disagree. We can dissect the minutiae of Uchida’s Mozartean glory or revile Netrebko’s current attempts at Donizetti while being collectively captivated by her—hopefully increasingly frequent—returns to Russian repertoire.
What I’m trying to say is that changes in how recordings are distributed allow an amazing opportunity to teach and to learn as a community. We don’t have to do it alone. So, for my money, the advent of the record and the subsequent changes in its production and dissemination, while relegating the genre of “classical” music to the dustbins of history, at the same time presents the industry with an enormously pregnant opportunity for expansion and inclusion. The opera house or concert hall is simply inaccessible to many people, whereas pop music—the music, quite literally, of the record—offers easier and more affordable consumption. Our current technology should allow us to bring new people into the fold and teach them to understand things that are pretty damn hard to understand. I, therefore, am terribly excited to see what the recording industry has in store. We shouldn’t be grasping our LPs of the 1953 Callas/de Sabata Tosca, but uploading them and sending them out to the world. It’s an opportunity too good to waste, people.
(Trust me, it works. I’m 22, knew next to nothing about opera—although was a big fan of piano literature. But opera’s a whole different sport, and I learned a hell of a lot from blogs and YouTube, so that when I got to a live performance, I nearly shat myself with joy.).
I was lucky enough to find Moffo’s French Heroines and Verdi Arias albums on Ebay on vinyl and posted them to Youtube; they’ve never been released on CD that I’m aware of.
I think at some point even downloading will be obsolete and everything will exist in cloud computing. Instant access to all things at all time. Until, of course, the giant computer breaks down and all is lost.
Until Michael York and Jenny Agutter escape and find Peter Ustinov guarding an old library filled with opera recordings.
Wow! I just listened to her “Il est doux” from Herodiade. Simply gorgeous! (Coincidentally we were just posting about Fleming’s Salome the other day) Thanks for putting this on youtube. I’m going to listen to the rest now. How can this never have been released on CD?????
To Pellas (comments 15) & Jay (15.1.)…. regarding the broken sprockets in CD cases..always have on hand, spare case to suit the required number of Cd set boxes you make want to replace sometimes. If you have want to save ‘good trays’ with good spockets’ from such multi CD cases It is easy to retrieve without breaking.To get the actual CD trays easily out of cases: Be Careful: Get a box cutter blade and insert the blade down ‘beside each of the the 4 contact points ‘plongs’ and between the actual outer case that keep the CD trays in the transparent cases.
To make sure sliding and scrapping of CDs never happen always open the cases in a ‘flat position’. Sideways, or vertically, if they are not fixed on the sprockets, they move and can get ‘jammed between the opening between lid and the tray of a CD case., Before you sometimes could retrieve such a situation -the CD could be ‘crunched’ and surface scratched.
Now onto the ‘guck’ that has deposited on what is usually the label areas of CDs packed in those opera ‘de luxe’ multi disc plastic case boxes from corroding sponge foam packing inserts. Gently remove all the rubbish you can -without using hard objects or solvents. Remember the label side of a CD is nowhere near as durable, thick or tough’ as the playing side. That was part of the original Philips invention plan for the ‘CD Red Book Specifications’ for the CD as a ‘playing Medium’. As a backup before trying anything further, perhaps making a CD-R copy of the disc is in order as insurance ….as this could not be construed as ‘piracy’. Did you not also pay ‘a user’s copyright fee’ for the personal ( emphasise PERSONAL) use of the material when you purchased it. Yes, you certainly did!
Now the only possible ’safe trial;’ where increased ‘damage’ to the disc will not take place, I know – is having a spare CD tray to lay down the CD at any time.. Then have a bowl of clean cold water, and use a few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent in the water. .Bathe and gently rub the disc with balls of the best quality cotton wool as ‘the rag’ , Then run the CD under cold water thoroughly, till it is rid of all trace of residual detergent. The Clue of cleanless: Bubbles of water settling all over the surface. Now dab the CD gently now with more clean dry cotton wool. Water drying patterns…. and dags of cotton wool tending to ’stick’ to the surface….. That’s normal and natural – no panic. Then with more dry cotton wool and with your own breath – keep breathing on – and making a ‘fog’ on the CD surface whilst gently polishing away these water mark patterns that will have naturally formed. The cotton wool ‘dags’ release off the CD surface as well. It should be now a ‘done job’ and hopefully improved – if not- solved your problem. Then if so, (’to just cover any possible legal issues) I should remark that then “you can then destroy the ‘for -personal insurance purpose only’ copy CD-R you made”!…. Happy cleaning attempts.