Thread: Gramophone and Julia Fischer

Posts: 7

Post by Castor January 2, 2009 (1 of 7)
The February 2009 issue of Gramophone features Julia Fischer on the cover and carries a six-page ‘Hello Magazine’-style interview with her and no less than 16 photographs scattered throughout the magazine.
PentaTone (spelt Pentatone) is given no actual credit for her success although contributors to this forum will be glad and no doubt surprised to read that “prodigy no longer, now she touches greatness”.

Interestingly, her first recording for Decca is not given a particularly good review. “ Fischer at her finest is an exceptional violinist but this does not live up to the best that she can offer”
Fischer also says that she will never do crossover projects, which (if you believe it) will probably be a huge disappointment to Decca/Universal.

At least we have one final Fischer recording on PentaTone to look forward to, and the prospect of Arabella Steinbacher’s debut on the label.

Needless to say, with this issue Gramophone has gone back to ignoring SACD, apart from one strange comment in a review on page 70. “ The recording is a trifle dense in the midrange and the horns are backward. A judgement based not on SACD sound but on that of the CD layer supplied for review”

Post by Claude January 2, 2009 (2 of 7)
That's interesting, about the review comment. Does it mean that reviewers often receive CD (maybe even CD-R) review copies of discs which later are released as hybrid SACDs? It could explain why the SACD sound is rarily reviewed.

The french classical music magazine Diapason always provides seperate sonic ratings for CD and SACD layer, which would mean that they receive and listen to the SACDs.

Post by threerandot January 2, 2009 (3 of 7)
I've said it before and I'll say it again. When Decca saw the success of Julia Fischer on Pentatone, it stuck in their craw. They saw Pentatone as a label that posed a threat to them. So what do they do? Grab Julia for themselves. Julia didn't need Decca, Decca needs Julia!

At least Julia has promised not to do any crossover projects, but we'll see if she can live up to that. After all, she signed an exclusive contract with them and this is stated right on her site.

It is still surprising that so many do not want to give SA-CD any credit in articles and such. Is SA-CD such a threat to so many?

Post by mahlerei January 2, 2009 (4 of 7)
Sadly Gramophone has become unashamedly populist since it was absorbed into the Haymarket stable. Reviews are bitty, subbing is poor, the design is all over the place and the emphasis is on gloss rather than substance. A real shame, as many of us were brought up with the old mag, when the reviews were worthy of the name.

Post by Cherubino January 2, 2009 (5 of 7)
mahlerei said:

Sadly Gramophone has become unashamedly populist since it was absorbed into the Haymarket stable. Reviews are bitty, subbing is poor, the design is all over the place and the emphasis is on gloss rather than substance. A real shame, as many of us were brought up with the old mag, when the reviews were worthy of the name.

I've been a subscriber since 1983 and, sadly, can't argue with anything you say.

Post by Fugue January 2, 2009 (6 of 7)
mahlerei said:

Sadly Gramophone has become unashamedly populist since it was absorbed into the Haymarket stable. Reviews are bitty, subbing is poor, the design is all over the place and the emphasis is on gloss rather than substance. A real shame, as many of us were brought up with the old mag, when the reviews were worthy of the name.

I agree-they seem to pander to the lowest common denominator these days. International Record Review is run by some former Gramophone writers and is much better--although I think they emphasize historical/re-release CDs a bit too much for my taste.

Post by Daland January 2, 2009 (7 of 7)
Not all artists seem to be happy recording for Decca or other "majors". Mathias Goerne, the German baritone, even broke his exclusive contract with Decca in early 2008 to embark on a Schubert lieder project with Harmonia mundi. He said that Decca was only interested in an artist's marketing potential and that artistic considerations played a minor role.
The counter-tenor Andreas Scholl has also left Decca for Harmonia mundi.

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/interviews_detail.asp?f=2955&id=2956

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