Recording of Raff's Samson

[Ilja]

Nothing unusual, I think. Full-price is for hardcore enthusiasts, and after a few months the price is reduced somewhat to make the set more attractive to more opportunistic buyers. Which in practice means that the first group pays a surplus on top of the "real" price. It happens in other sectors as well; compare it to hardcover and paperback book releases.

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, that's true, but it is such a shame that the recording isn't available domestically in the UK or US, for example. That has to impact sales.

[Ilja]

Yes, that's a shame. From their web site it seems that Schweizer Fonogramm (mostly a two-person side project from what I can gather) focuses mainly on the internal Swiss market, which seems to make international sales a secondary consideration. Which, if true, seems somewhat short-sighted.

[John Boyer]

JPC ships to America at a nominal cost.   That should cover the distribution problem, especially in the absence of brick-and-mortar stores.

[Justin]

Graziella and Fred have been great in keeping us updated on their projects and the customer service is great. They deserve success for that quality too.

[Alan Howe]

I wonder how many US orders jpc actually ships? I'm afraid I think that discounting (by 25%) after only a matter of months means the set isn't selling. If that's true, it's a real shame. The recording deserves better.

[John Boyer]

With the passing of physical stores, the need for distributors in target nations has passed as well. If you're ordering everything on Internet websites, it doesn't matter where the websites are hosted.

And just as stores have disappeared, so have mainstream websites like Amazon stopped serving the needs of record collectors. If you're into classical music at any depth, where you know who Raff was and take chances on him, you are going to know about sources like Presto or JPC.  You will know about Musicweb International or Fanfare; you'll know about how to obtain music in the current world.

So not to worry.  As Ilja pointed out, rapid discounting is common enough at JPC. 

[John Boyer]

...and I was about to write, "Perhaps they'll read about it in 'Opera News'," but I see that went the way of so many monthlies a year ago.  Oh, dear.

[Alan Howe]

The problem, though, is the relatively low 'profile' of the recording which appears only to have garnered one English-language review (outside of this website), is available through only one international retailer (jpc) and is now being heavily discounted. I wonder whether Dave Hurwitz knows about it, for example?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I wonder if he has been sent a review copy.

[Alan Howe]

That's a very good point. After all, he has a YouTube audience of 45,500 (subscribers), plus (presumably) many further casual viewers.

[Alan Howe]

A second review at MusicWeb:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/raff-samson-schweizer-fonogramm-2/

[Mark Thomas]

The reviewer clearly has a high regard for the opera, but is less enthusiastic about most of the soloists in the recording. Do you agree with his assessment of them, Alan?

[Alan Howe]

Broadly, yes. I think that Tokar (Delilah) and Immler (the High Priest) are the stand-out singers myself and that the others are adequate. I agree fully with the reviewer about the quality of the opera and the excellent work of conductor, orchestra and chorus. As I look back on the release, though, I am most disappointed by Vigilius (Samson), whose voice has little of the allure required by the role.

However, the biggest drawback remains the lack of exposure that the recording is receiving. It deserves far better. Nevertheless, two reviews at MusicWeb are better than none (AFAIK) elsewhere in the English-speaking world...

[adcsound]

Dear friends,
I can only agree with what is written above.
We all had been a bit disappointed by Magnus but that's life, he was not our choice but Philippe's who had already worked with him on opera productions in Germany.
Sometimes the stage performance, made up of acting and singing, is no longer enough when the acting is removed...

I dream of one day doing an opera again and having control over all the choices, including having the time! Can you imagine that we recorded one act a day?
It's all so expensive and time is really a lot of money. This means that sometimes it's not possible to dwell too much on one section or another. As an artistic producer, I had to make decisions due to lack of time and I always tried to find the best compromise between quality/time and money.
The budget for this production was already half a million Swiss francs...
Magnus really prepared his role and did the best he could, and that's  what we have.

I think the whole team made progress during this production, everyone gave their best and also learnt a lot.
Myself included!

Salutations de Bern, Fred.