Why Media?

David Stearns wrote:

“Cut to the dawn of self made recordings, one of the first being the St. Louis Symphony in the early years of the Hans Vonk tenure. Those recordings – at least to the very few that heard them, and perhaps the even fewer who remember them – wanted to beat the major labels at their own game. However, the reason that the orchestra wasn’t recording for one of the majors (which were still a force then) had to do with that model’s decreasing relevance. The last thing the world needed was St. Louis’ middle of the road performances of Beethoven symphonies. I suppose the orchestra was counting on the old home-team spirit to make the recordings viable, from a sales and circulation standpoint. But these carefully edited concoctions taken from live performances had less chance of being relevant to people’s lives than the instant downloads some orchestras are now beginning to offer at the end of their concerts.”

Mr. Stearns’ comments on the St. Louis “self made” recordings over-simplify what actually happened. From 1988 to 1995 RCA/BMG paid all the costs associated with producing SLSO recordings, including the labor costs. At that time the SLSO was one of the few orchestras that enjoyed that kind of recording deal. The contract with RCA/BMG ended when Leonard Slatkin left the SLSO at the end of 1995.

In 1996 the SLSO had several offers from recording companies that were interested in recording the orchestra with our then-new music director Hans Vonk, provided that the SLSO paid the labor costs for the recordings. The Board of the SLSO made a policy decision that the SLSO would not underwrite recording activity. The decision to self-produce recordings was driven by that Board decision, rather than being an attempt to “beat the major labels at their own game”.

Interestingly enough, the SLSO finds itself in the same position in 2006. Several companies have expressed interest in recording the SLSO with our new Music Director, David Robertson, provided the SLSO underwrites the labor costs of recording sessions and that Robertson is willing to record what Hans Vonk used to call the “iron literature”. I will not attempt to speak for David Robertson but this I know for sure: the SLSO Board will not underwrite the cost of recording sessions.

Fortunately, there are some important differences between 2006 and 1997; in particular, the new symphonic live recording agreement and the Internet. It seems to me that distribution of downloadable recordings over the Internet place orchestras in the position of being able to derive value from recordings in ways not possible even 9 years ago.