# Norman Lebrecht



## drth15 (Dec 12, 2007)

I'm curious-has anyone else read 'The Life and Death of Classical Music' by Norman Lebrecht? 

If you have also read his previous books 'The Maestro Myth' and 'Who Killed Classical Music' you are familiar with his indictment of the classical music industry for its chronic mismanagment. This latest work serves as a retrospective and post-mortem on the classical recording industry.

While no one can argue that the industry is weak compared to its golden years of the 50s and 60s, is it really 'dead'? In fact, is it any more dead than in the late 70s and early 80s, just before it was revived by CDs and the Authentic Period Performance Movement?

I suppose I am the uninformed optomist here, but 'the music' as Alex Ross calls it will never disappear, even if the means of marketing it change completely. And that goes for the great performances of the past: Anyone with musical passion, hearing Klemperer's Fidelio, Furtwangler's Bruckner 9th, Toscanini's Falstaff, or Rubenstein's Chopin etc will seek to preserve them in the best means possible. Classical has always hung on the modest but permanent demand factor.

Part 2 of 'Life and Death' is in fact a list of 'the 100 most important and the 20 most appalling' records ever made. All in all, Lebrecht has done a fine job with this list. The usual 50-70 articles of faith are included, as are some secondary but historic achievements like Stokowski's Ives Fourth and the Fricsay/Anda Bartok Concertos.

Yet, it seems much is missing from this list-Giulini's Verdi Requiem and Don Giovanni, Geiseking's Debussy Preludes, Bernstein's Mahler Third and Seventh etc, And some inclusions are personal picks or, like Karajan's Bruckner 7th, recordings granted mythic status for extra-musical reasons (" This was to be Karajan's last record. three months later he was dead.")

Anyhow, what are your milestone recording choices? 

And how about the 20 recordings that have irritated you most? His list is good here too. But, really, Maazel's Mahler 2nd typlifies the downside of Lebrecht's inside information. It sounds more like 'the worst time anyone has ever had making a recording' than the worst performance.


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## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

*Casal's recording of Bach's cello suites, *without a doubt. Naxos released a remastering of this a few years ago which is REALLY excellent BTW...

As eccentric as he was, I have to say *Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations *is still fresh (his final 1981 recording is also lovely). Gould was always at his best with Bach-- once he strayed from Bach, its a bit more hit-and-miss.

*Karajan's recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 *on DG.

CBS did a *"Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky" *series which was quite remarkable (particularly the Symphony of Psalms and his Symphony in C).

I still think *Bernstein's recording of Barber's Adagio for Strings *is unsurpassed.

As far as the worst goes: does the *Fantasia *soundtrack count? LOL The music was edited to death and plus the engineers were having too much fun with the new gadgetry! When the film was re-released in the early 80s, I got the soundtrack and it helped expose me to more classical music at the time (I was about 11 years old), but it didn't take long for me to realise how awful it was-- added horns on Stravinsky's Rite, plus a recap of the opening bassoon theme at the end (with a nice major triad at the very end!!!!!), the butchered Ave Maria by Schubert, all sorts of music edited to death. *shudder*

~josh


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I really like the Casals recording of the cello suites, but actually prefer Fourniere's recording. I also like Yo-Yo Ma's first recording of them. I can' agree with you more on Gould's Goldbergs or Bernstein's _Adagio_. As for the "worst"? Probably one of those cheesy, cheap recordings I bought when I was first getting into classical music... you know the one with some East European orchestra you've never heard of.


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## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

stlukesguild2 said:


> I really like the Casals recording of the cello suites, but actually prefer Fourniere's recording. I also like Yo-Yo Ma's first recording of them.


I'm partial to Ma's second set of recordings myself  (that he did around the mid- late- 90s). I believe on both recordings he does something rather odd-- I believe he tunes his cello down by a half-step...

Oh and as far as "worst" goes-- does the "Hooked On..." series count? LOL When I was 10 or 11 I bought the first one on LP. Cheesy in the extreme, but at least it listed all the pieces in the medleys. I tracked down many of the original pieces later, so at least it pushed me a bit further into some familiarity...

~josh


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