Georgy Catoire 1861-1926

[JimL]

Well, since Poland has been part of both, let's include it!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Again, not to put a damper on people's enthusiasm, but Mr Takenouchi told me that in order for him to record any repertoire that is not strictly mainstream he has to come to the record company with sponsorship already raised to cover its cost. You can imagine that one would not see much change out of £12 or 13K.   I quote: "One thing I always have to face though in going through these recording projects is the matter of finance.... I am always on the look out for the sources of supports/sponsorships.  Alas, major recording companies with enough pool of money will never even consider recording these works as you know.  So relying on smaller independent labels means that I have to work with the labels in running around to secure funding before the projects can go ahead."  You may recall that Adriano said something similar on the Fritz Brun thread.
Perhaps we can collectively help Mr Takenouchi.

[jerfilm]

Is there some way that we could go through a non-profit of some kind so that for many, at least, gifts would be tax deductible? 

Or could we start a non-profit for that purpose?  Or does the international nature of this group make such a venture almost impossible?  Or perhaps of no benefit to some. 

How many of us are there?  What would we raise if everyone could put in, say, $50US?  Or the equivalent?

Jerry

[eschiss1]

this is now I think entirely or almost entirely true of those companies, which even recently occasionally at least did slightly surprise with non-mainstream theme series (one thinks of Decca's much-appreciated CDs devoted to music from composers killed in the Shoah & related music, which idea fortunately Naxos with a sponsor has continued. There is, I gather, a similar long-term pattern in the book industry  - the disappearance of the prestige sublabels, insistence that everything make a profit followed by insistence that everything make a lot of profit, etc. But I not only digress but digress a -lot-. Pauvre M'r Catoire... )
Actually, I know this thread isn't generally about Catoire, but how accurate, do you know, is the IMSLP list of Catoire's compositions (help us fix it ) and what else remains unrecorded (ah, that I know I can't help you with so directly, but I'm curious...)

[eschiss1]

USD50 is about as much as I withdraw in a week for food purchases- erm, sorry. Never mind.

[X. Trapnel]

There is an Ecole de Musique Georgy Lvovich Catoire (www.catoire.fr) founded by the composer's nephew, but I couldn't find a bio or works list (this might just be my subpar French). Personally, I might be willing to live on roadkill for a week for more Catoire.

[Gareth Vaughan]

If it's any use (and apologies, Alan, for hi-jacking this thread - perhaps you should move the discussion on financing recordings to another thread) the English Music Festival, run by the dauntless Em Marshall, has started its own CD Label. Their first release, as you probably know, was of Violin Sonatas by Bliss, Walford Davies and York Bowen.  Em has sent round a circular to all her supporters (probably the entire mailing list of EMF, I expect) inviting subscriptions to cover the cost of that and future recordings (the next planned release is Bantock's Viola Sonata and Holbrooke's Violin Sonata No. 2 - the original version, not the one recorded on Naxos). She suggests a minimum donation of £50, for which supporters would receive the following benefits:
A mention as a named subscriber in the CD booklet;
An exclusive invitation to the CD launch;
A complimentary signed copy of the CD.
In the UK, taxpayers can Gift Aid their donation thus adding 25% to its value, because EMF is a registered charity (as are most arts organisations in the UK).

If 200 people subscribed the minimum and half of those were able to Gift Aid their donation you'd have raised £11, 250. So that would maybe be one CD.
There you have it.

[Christopher]

Regarding financing, I suggested to Mr. Takenouchi that he consider working with orchestras from the further Eastern European countries.  Not Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic, where general prices are now getting up to West European levels (and which Naxos seems to use a lot), but from countries such as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.  One of the few positive legacies of the Soviet Union is that even the most remote provincial cities have music schools and symphony orchestras that operate to high standards.  I would imagine that they are also very low-cost and would be extremely open to recording offers.  Furthermore these newly-independent countries have fine classical music traditions of their own.

A friend of a friend here conducted the Belarussian State Academic Symphony Orchestra in making the world premiere recording of the piano concerto by Russian composer Pavel Pabst.  If I ever run into him I will ask him how they raised finance.  It just needs someone to volunteer to coordinate....

Talking of Naxos - they run a LOT of recordings of non-mainstream composers...how do they finance it?

I also think, as suggested by others above, that it could be a really interesting exercise for this website to see if it could be a platform for raising a large number of small donations and how much that would raise in total.  Barack Obama did something similar in raising a huge warchest for his election campaign - he appealed directly to voters to give amounts like $20...!

[Alan Howe]

I agree, but we would need to be careful. Not all these orchestras are equally good - I personally wouldn't go anywhere near the Belorussian outfit, for example...

However, I agree with the basic idea of fund-raising from within our own ranks. The biggest issue, though, may well be that of agreement on repertoire. Or not, as the case may be...

[Christopher]

You wouldn't go near the Belarusian orchestra because of the current situation there or because of its performance in existing recordings?   Regarding repertoire, I guess a performer would have to state his intended pieces and then see what came forward.  If he asked us for suggestions, he would get any number of answers!!

[Mark Thomas]

Christopher wrote:

Talking of Naxos - they run a LOT of recordings of non-mainstream composers...how do they finance it?

A mix: many of their recordings are self-financed but others are supported by enthusiasts for a particular composer or performer.

As for the general question of UC members supporting recordings, as many of you know I've done my bit over the last few years sponsoring, by the end of this year, nine CDs of previously unavailable music by Raff on three different labels. I'm afraid that's it for me, but I would say that it's money which opens the doors, once you have the money then recording companies are generally very enthusiastic about recording our sort of repertoire and very open to new ideas. The message is clear, though: get the money first. Depending upon the label and artists, you're going to need between £8,000 and £12,000 for an orchestral CD is my guess.

[Alan Howe]

You wouldn't go near the Belarusian orchestra because of the current situation there or because of its performance in existing recordings?

Because of its performance. It's pretty poor. Apparently it can't even be relied upon to provide a full complement of players when recordings are scheduled...

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree, Alan. The Belarussians have not distinguished themselves of late in that respect. One would need to take advice. I would recommend the Orion Symphony Orchestra with their conductor, Toby Purser, but, being based in the UK, the cost of a recording venue might well be prohibitive. I expect Mr Takenouchi and/or the record company would have a view.

The choice of repertoire would, I think, have to come from Mr Takenouchi. If we each put in our two penn'orth we will get a myriad suggestions. And, after all, he's got to be convinced of the musical worth of the pieces he plays. It would be no good asking him to play something he didn't believe in.

[Alan Howe]

Quite so, Gareth.

[fyrexia]

If Mr. Takenouchi would like to know some more SOVIET composers. There is a darn lot of them to mention.
All these has written 1 or more then 1 Piano Concerto. And these as far as i know are either not recorded, or little sketches appeared in a film or radio broadcast.

These are my wishlist !

Leonid Afanasyev
Vladislav Agafonnikov (Score was published together with the afanasyev!)
Orest Yevlakhov (I definitely must hear this)
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov (A must hear to !!)
Nikolai Silvanski (7 Piano Concertos??)
Konstantin Sorokin
Anatoly Samonov
Oleg Moralev
Genrikh Vagner (PC no.2 and 3) (Byelorussian Shostakovich id say?)
Alexander Mosolov (Pc no.2 appeared on the radio some years ago)

All best,

Tony