A warm welcome to Alan Sanders, the editor of Classical Recordings Quarterly, as the guest-writer of Classical Source’s latest editorial...
The cover of our magazine claims that we are “The world’s leading review of vintage classical recordings”. The word “review” doesn’t just refer to the 40 pages in which our experienced and knowledgeable contributors (including Classical Source’s editor!) discuss the latest CD and DVD versions of older performances. It also refers to CRQ’s overall focus on the history of the gramophone – great artists and recordings, features on labels and historically important material, and the increasing availability of out-of-copyright material in the form of downloads.
But why have a publication that looks back at the past? Because today’s classical record industry exists on the foundations of a rich heritage captured over a century, back to the early 1900s, when such musicians as Sarasate, Grieg, Caruso and Patti bravely confronted acoustic recording horns. Theirs is a rewarding legacy.
Come forward 25 years to electric recording, you can hear Rachmaninov, Kreisler, Sir Henry Wood and a host of other famous artists perform in realistic sound-quality. Nearer our own time, we have stereo recordings by an ever-widening group of pre-eminent artists such as Callas, Stravinsky, Heifetz and Stokowski, captured in sound that – dare one say it? – is almost as good as the best digital productions.
Within our century of recording history there is so much to learn, such as the extraordinary similarity of recordings of Robert Schumann’s piano music made years apart by two Clara Schumann pupils, Fanny Davies and Adelina de Lara, preserving a performing tradition dating back to the composer’s time.
In future issues CRQ will celebrate the Kathleen Ferrier centenary, reveal new facts about the famous Thibaud/Casals/Cortot trio and discuss the curious case of conductor Reginald Goodall. Plus a great deal more. We’re not complacent. There’s always room for improvement. Our readers seem pleased, though, for instance an American subscriber wrote: “I’d be happy if you were a weekly. No, make that a daily.” If only we could be! Come and join us…
Alan Sanders
For The Classical Source
May 2012
