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John Boyer   29/4/2004	Subject: CPO delays? Message: Mark has announced the appearance of the 3rd Sonata and the Symphonies 8-11 on CPO, but they have yet to appear on US shores...or so it seems. Have any other American buyers seen them? Classical music in the US is sinking faster than the Lusitania. I understand that smaller labels are being dropped by US distributors. But CPO is distributed by Naxos, which still a solid outfit, so I wonder what the deal is?
avrohom leichtling   29/4/2004	RE: CPO delays? IP: Logged Message: The state of the arts, overall, in the US continues its precipitous decline into oblivion. The garbage culture has won, or so it seems. But, like Ray Bradbury's Book People (Farenheit 451) all of us, composers, performers and listeners, will need to keep "the truth" alive one way or another. As for CPO, and other record labels, music publishers and the like, the best bet is to start investigating all the European web-sites that now sell direct to customers in the US. You will have to pay for shipping, naturally, but you will find a much wider range of choices not restricted to idiotic trade agreements that prohibit direct US marketing. Don't let the firemen (see Bradbury, above) stop you, music is too important to all of us to be squelched by the garbage culture.
John Boyer   01/5/2004	RE: CPO delays? IP: Logged Message: I use European sites only as a last resort. Shipping costs are prohibitive (but worth it, I suppose, when one has no choice).
Mark   01/5/2004	RE: CPO delays? IP: Logged Message: The price of CDs in the UK is so prohibitively expensive that I save money by buying most of them from Germany over the internet. I just wait until I have an order of four or five, which takes a distressingly short amount of time, and then have them shipped over. Crazy, but we pay such inflated prices for everything here that it doesn't make sense to patronise local shops... (end of parochial moan) Cheers
peter conole   03/5/2004	RE: CPO delays? IP: Logged Message: Mark, as one who lives on the edge of the world, I too have a parochial moan or two. The shipping time factor makes it essential for me to deal directly with a couple of reliable large-scale retail agents in Britain and the US. Prices of CDs over here are also a scandal. However, the overriding problem right now is the current extreme difficulty in obtaining Tudor label releases. Have exhausted quite a few possible angles. Will seek advice later. John and Avrohom, I have read comments on the current difficulties facing classical music in the US on a number of threads. Your remarks on this one have perturbed me, and not a little. John, it may have been you who raised the subject of the 'radio crash' in the US re the the simple ability to listen to classical music over the air. From my perspective, seismic disasters in the US and Europe in the cultural arena can mean armageddon here when the effects arrive. In days of yore, there was usually a 10-15 year 'cushioning period' before much happened, thus allowing time for forts to be built and counter-attacks organised. Could give some examples -'garbage culture' does not always win, as various 'cultural wars' fought in this part of the world have demonstrated. Maybe not any more. The world is now too small. Public funding for some things (eg, part of the national radio network, and symphony orchestras) has been a good buffer. There has been some marginal damage, but matters may become serious because political rubbish and 'social engineering' always seem to enter the picture. John, I mentioned elsewhere some secondary school music teaching issues that are starting to have a 'dumbing down' effect. At present, admittance to tertiary musical studies depends upon success in a very solid classically-based curriculum. Music teachers are anxious about a second stream - a 'music and society' one. Will refrain from comment on the latter. The grim news is that the current plan is to obliterate the classical curriculum in the year 2008 and make it a mere adjunct of the other. Teachers of music predict disaster and time is running out. regards Peter
Mark   03/5/2004	RE: CPO delays? IP: Logged Message: Peter, on the question of sourcing Tudor CDs, the only reliable and comprehensive supplier which I have found is jpc. They are the mail order division of cpo. Their CD prices are reasonable (well, cheap compared with the UK) but their postal charges are high, unless you build up an order of several CDs. You have the option of them sending each item out as it becomes available (very costly) or waiting until the order is complete before they despatch. That said, if the delay goes above a fortnight or so, they'll send what they've got to hand and mail you the rest post free - at least to the UK. The url is www.jpc.de - click on the USA flag to get their worldwide site in English. I see that they charge €14.99 to ship to Australia, but of course, you'll not pay VAT (unless you're unlucky at Australian customs). They have a distressingly extensive classical catalogue. Needless to say, I've no connection with them other than being a pretty satisfied customer. Cheers,