# Potential commercial value of historic Leonid Kogan 1951 performance



## DrOfTheRevolution (8 mo ago)

Hello,

I am a sound engineer and have been specialising in audio restoration of mostly classical music recordings made on lacquer discs during the forties and fifties of last century. Since 1,5 years this has become my fulltime job.

I recently was able to restore Leonid Kogan's performance during the final of the 1951 Queen Elisabeth Contest.
You can listen to this performance, in very low quality, on the website of the Contest.

My question is if a restored recording of this performance has commercial value.

I am not a specialist in today's market of classical music, but I understand Kogan's importance and the historic meaning of this recording.
Besides that, the recording sparkles ! An absolute joy to listen to.

The recording consists of :

1) René Defossez - Concerto for violin and orchestra (I.Allegro II.Lento III. Finale)
2) Nicolo Paganini - Concerto N° 1 op. 6 (I Allegro maestoso II.II Adagio espressivo III. III Rondo: Allegro spirituoso)

Has anybody here an idea of how many CD's would sell the recording in today's market ?


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## Ludwig Schon (10 mo ago)

Less than none.

There is no money to be made from classical music. It is purely a vocation…


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

What Ludi says. I'd just upload it to youtube and share it with the world. 
Nice repertoire though, the Defossez concerto would be interesting to hear. I can see a mono LP with this work (played by Frederic Petronio... who?) was issued way back in the 50's but never made it to cd.


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## DrOfTheRevolution (8 mo ago)

Unfortunately I can't upload it to youtube without potentially causing troubles with my employer. 
This is broadcast material.


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## DrOfTheRevolution (8 mo ago)

update : employer (VRT) released the restoration I did :

You can stream the full Concerto n° 1 for violin and orchestra near the bottom of the article :

Google translate to English link :

Digitally polished by the VRT: the winner of the first Queen Elisabeth Competition sounds so clear


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## Bogdan (Sep 12, 2014)

DrOfTheRevolution said:


> update : employer (VRT) released the restoration I did :
> 
> You can stream the full Concerto n° 1 for violin and orchestra near the bottom of the article :
> 
> ...


Great sound, well done!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

DrOfTheRevolution said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am a sound engineer and have been specialising in audio restoration of mostly classical music recordings made on lacquer discs during the forties and fifties of last century. Since 1,5 years this has become my fulltime job.
> 
> ...



CD'S sell hardly these days unless you have new gold / artist in hand 
Don't count on big sales perhaps some rare collectors. Keep the day job for now.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

DrOfTheRevolution said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am a sound engineer and have been specialising in audio restoration of mostly classical music recordings made on lacquer discs during the forties and fifties of last century. Since 1,5 years this has become my fulltime job.
> 
> ...


First, congratulations on your engineering achievement. However, to the extent there is any collector's value in old classical recordings, it is based on the rarity of the original recordings made back in the 1950s, especially those in mint condition, not in digital reissues, no matter how high their quality. Nevertheless, there is a market for such recordings, as can be seen from labels such as Pristine Classical, owned and operated by a sound engineer named Andrew Rose: Pristine Classical - The Greatest Music, The Finest Sound 
I would think you could sell a few hundred downloads of this recording for a few dollars each, especially if you garner some favorable reviews from trusted sources and put enough resources into marketing.


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