One of the brightest stars among independent labels has been acquired by corporate giant Universal. Probably very bad news for lovers of high standards and interesting repertoire. One can't blame Simon Perry, who had probably had enough of the recording industry, but it is a very sad day. It is doubtful that, under Universal, the label will make any more new recordings.
Very bad news. Well, it was a great run.
Absolutely, but there's nothing good about this news.
I mean maybe there will be a small benefit of some mega boxsets for cheap for those inclined but beyond that yeah....RIP the monthly free FLACs too probably.
I'm guessing Universal Music Group (*1934) is no relation to Universal Edition (*1901), tangentially...
I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.
There is no connection between Universal Music Group and Universal Edition.
Hurwitz' take here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHkrkMGvibc).
The best that could come out of this is that access to Hyperion's back catalogue will be improved. But not holding my breath for new recording initiatives. Let's just hope that projects that are in the pipeline are still completed and released.
That's probably the most we can hope for, Ilya.
Hurwitz's take is, I feel, a bleak but realistic assessment of the news.
This is one of those occasions where, on reflection, I feel that Hurwitz is spot on and particularly so in pointing out that Hyperion is a business with an owner, like any other, not just a service for us enthusiasts. His video is a common sense, straight talking assessment of the news. As he says: "this isn't bad news, it isn't good news, it's just news".
I'm not holding my breath as to access to the back catalogue, either.
Well there is another benefit I suppose that most in here won't care too much, is they will be available to digital sale and streaming on across the web rather than being landlocked to Hyperion's own site.
Yes, Hurwitz makes some really good points. I suppose we at UC just long for more RPC, RVC and RCC releases - which we love, of course.
Terrible news.
Hyperion's blocking their digital content from Amazon and other streaming sites and requiring one get an account on their own was not something I could do, so the slight possibility mentioned by TerraEpon that this might change does help me and maybe more people- maybe even readers of this site- than you suspect- if so.
That's all well and good, Eric, for the current catalogue (which, granted, is by no means insubstantial). However, the real sadness, as Alan points out, is that with Universal owning the label there will likely be no new recordings. That's not the way Universal works.
I agree 100% - and that's Hurwitz's major omission. No more RPCs, RVCs or RCCs. What we particularly adore Hyperion for is (presumably) no more.
I'm sure it's not a problem but also maybe we should spare a thought for their leading performers such as Howard Shelley & co.- I'm sure they will have many other opportunities elsewhere BUT...?
Hurwitz lauding the marketing and possibilities for re-packaging the back catalogue etc. may be a good thing to help newcomers to appreciate the wealth of 'unsungs' recorded by Hyperion but is little consolation to those of us who eagerly looked forward to the next RPC issue, having already hoovered up what we needed for the existing catalogue.
Anyway, here's to the ongoing good health of the remaining champions of 'unsungs'- CHANDOS, CPO, Dutton et al.
When one door closes, another often opens,,,
Cheers
Richard
Gareth- not disagreeing. At best I was modifying an earlier view of mine which detected no silver lining in cloud chromatography, not trying to be positive.
QuoteI'm sure it's not a problem but also maybe we should spare a thought for their leading performers such as Howard Shelley & co.- I'm sure they will have many other opportunities elsewhere BUT...
Absolutely. And many of them chose to record for Hyperion precisely because it was independent and they did not like the way the big corporate labels treated their artists.
QuoteAt best I was modifying an earlier view of mine which detected no silver lining in cloud chromatography,
Oh, quite, Eric. I understand what you are saying.
Does anybody want a 'huge cube' of Hyperion reissues? I mean does anyone actually buy these monstrosities?
Clearly they do, otherwise the likes of Universal and Warner wouldn't keep issuing them. Just not people like us who are, we must recognise, a small subset of an already small market.
Clearly people do, as you say!
I suppose what I was getting at was that a Hyperion 'mega-cube' of, say, RPCs would have pretty-well zero interest for us because we've already got them all, or at least all the ones we actually want.
I think the series of the Classical Piano Concertos and the Romantic Cello Concertos never really caught on. Even the Romantic Violin Concerto series appears to have been interrupted for a while. And,at least to me, there have been signs that there has been a falling-off of late of the RPC series (cf the Elmas and the Reinecke).
I can't agree with that conclusion, if I'm honest. Any venture that involves creative decisions takes risks. And yes, not everything works, but I don't think that's been more the case recently than before in the RPC series.
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Monday 27 February 2023, 09:05Just not people like us who are, we must recognise, a small subset of an already small market.
Well put, Mark. The wealth and breadth of Hyperion's catalog amazes me the more I think on it. From the chat here you'd think they were just the RPC/RVC series, but they covered everything from the Renaissance to the 20th Century in a way that other labels seemed to miss. And they had some of the best graphic design out there -- I can recall choosing Hyperion discs among competitors for a given work just for the cover art -- although this is something that was missing from their RPC/RVC series, which were visually the dullest things they did. Speaking of series, then there was Graham Johnson's Schubert and Schumann editions, with their remarkable documentation. As I write this I have volumes 25 and 30 of the Schubert in front of me: the first,
Die Schoene Muellerin, with 76 pages of English notes and the second,
Winterreise, with 111 pages. These weren't booklets, they were full fledged books. No one else did anything like it.
I will miss Hyperion, but for far more than RPC.
I would echo John's comments. My particular favourites outside RPC are Leslie Howard's 4-disc set of the complete piano & orchestra works of Liszt and the Schubert Symphony 10 (and other symphonic fragment completions) by Brian Newbould,, but I'm sure everyone will have their own personal; favourites. This note is not to start a list of all our favourites but rather to echo the (potential) loss of an exceedingly comprehensive and high-quality resource of both sound and text.
If anyone hears what is to become of the wonderful Hyperion legacy - never mind any dearth or otherwise of future issues - please keep us 'ignorami' updated.
Best wishes
Richard
I also hope this doesn't in the briefer term mean that even Hyperion discs announced as recorded and for release in the next 4-odd months are doomed.
John is absolutely right to highlight Hyperion's production standard in terms of artwork and booklet notes; they were some of the highest (if not the highest) I have encountered in the CD world. And, of course, the breadth of repertoire issued was outstanding.
I have only just caught up with this news and am deeply depressed by it. As someone who really started to appreciate classical music in the early 1980s, Hyperion – then really finding their own feet – introduced me to so much. Their catalogue contains some of my most-cherished recordings, from early music, Renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic through to more contemporary music.
They boldly set out, of course, on the big RPC and RVC series that have been mentioned. It's difficult to overstress how groundbreaking these were, incredibly brave explorations of repertoire no one else would have touched at the time, let alone put so much love into.
But there was so much more - the Schubert Edition, scores of discs of early English music most notably the incomparable Purcell series of choral works, outstanding series of recordings of Monteverdi and Vivaldi sacred works from Robert King, loads of 19th/early 20th C British music, wonderful Dvorak and Brahms, the Solomon Quartet's Mozart quartets ... the list just goes on and on. They showed that you didn't need the big beasts of the international concert stage to make interesting, vital music, and instead they put their faith in largely lesser-known soloists and bands that were able to develop their own, hugely appreciative audiences.
As has been said, the production values and presentation were always immaculate, but the learned and beautifully understated booklets were often an education in themselves. During 10 years as a CD reviewer, I always found the folk at Hyperion to be incredibly helpful and supportive and approachable, and always, always enthusiastic about the music in a way that I rarely encountered elsewhere. They were a real family concern – and, being British, a homegrown one, too. It's very sad to think of that coming to an end and the legacy being swallowed up by Universal.
I'll go and lie down now ...
It is natural for losses to loom much more than gains, and when you take it into perspective, the gains by Hyperion are huge. There are over 131 works in the Romantic Piano Concerto series alone, more than several labels put together. Also keep in mind that for one homegrown label being bought out, there are several new ones planted, such as our friends at Schweizer Fonogramm, Oclassica, Octatonic and the rebirth of Orpheus Classical. These have all occurred in the past decade or so.
It is disappointing that we may not see as many new Unsung works since this label will be gone, but I don't see it as a reason to be depressed, so let's all be grateful for the thousands of recordings that it has brought us and wish the best to the new ones.
One thought: how many recordings might already be 'in the can', but never see the light of day?
Maybe I'm being unduly optimistic on the issue of recordings "in the can" but surely it's in Universal's financial interest to get these to market, either through the Hyperion label or some other? After all, if the recordings have been made then the artists, studio and engineers will have been paid, so those costs will have been incurred and the only way of recovering that money is to publish the recordings or sell the rights on to someone else to publish them. Of course the booklets might not be up to Hyperion's standard, or the recordings might only be available as downloads but at least the music would be out there.
I sincerely hope you're right. It makes sense on all levels.
Unless they're unwilling to undertake publishing and distribution costs, but better to hope than not.
Don't know, if this means much, but I am an eternal optimist...
https://slippedisc.com/2023/03/exclusive-hyperion-is-guaranteed-its-independence/?fbclid=IwAR2YCDChxnaWGwYjPZUoAVHAyOipHAxywkM8nodJkk9UAyh3yXwsQ4rR8QM (https://slippedisc.com/2023/03/exclusive-hyperion-is-guaranteed-its-independence/?fbclid=IwAR2YCDChxnaWGwYjPZUoAVHAyOipHAxywkM8nodJkk9UAyh3yXwsQ4rR8QM)
(https://i.ibb.co/4JX9DFJ/hyperion-update.jpg) (https://ibb.co/KmfRQ5m)
Yes. There was an encouraging announcement here: https://slippedisc.com/2023/03/exclusive-hyperion-is-guaranteed-its-independence/ (https://slippedisc.com/2023/03/exclusive-hyperion-is-guaranteed-its-independence/) a couple of days ago.
Let us remain optimistic.
The story in this month's Gramophone says that Simon Perry will continue to manage Hyperion under UMG's ownership.
All this is real reason for hope. Thanks for the encouraging updates.
Also, Presto Music has what may be new recordings from Hyperion as far out as the 90-or-so days in the future their future-releases pages go, into July (mostly earlier music, so far.)
That's good, but only indicates that recordings already in the pipeline are going to be released. The acid test will be whether from now on Hyperion will make and release new recordings.
Precisely so, Mark. Fingers crossed!
We're starting to see the effects of UMG's ownership of Hyperion, with three volumes of the "Romantic Piano Concerto" series already on YouTube through its auto-generation algorithm. These are called "Art Tracks," officially. Let's hope that this will help expose the label to a wider audience if they happen to come across these videos.
3 out of 84. It's a start.
As I wrote Hyperion, I hope they will keep a good balance of new/recent recordings and older parts of the catalog when they'll put out the catalogue for streaming (as is with the 200 references they've already provided).
If you haven't seen, their statement about it is as follows:
"Hyperion albums are now available for streaming ... Having resisted the medium for many years, we have decided the time is finally right, giving our esteemed artists the increased visibility they so deserve, and allowing the riches of our catalogue to be discovered by a new generation. Some two hundred albums—presenting a broad overview of the catalogue and including many of our finest treasures—are available now, and more will be added over the coming months"
'We have decided'.....more like Universal has. Lawl.
My thoughts exactly.
Yeo, they have been coerced to decide and convinced that it was necessary.
Personnally, I'm not going to complain, but I don't understand the "immense benefits" of having their catalogue available free for nothing or close.
Quote from: Ebubu on Monday 07 August 2023, 14:47but I don't understand the "immense benefits" of having their catalogue available free for nothing or close.
Clearly there's plenty of benefit, or streaming wouldn't be the defacto way of releasing music in 2023.
If we're talking about YouTube, that point's been addressed multiple times, it feels like, and gets ignored each time.
If we're talking about mp3 downloads for example, a lot of them, like quite a few Kindle and Apple (and other downloadable) books, -aren't- cheap at the reader/listener end, with total prices actually not that rarely comparable to those of the same CDs*, but I'm feeling like the time for bringing facts in the conversation was probably two pages ago, so sure, ok...
*I must admit I've never created an account to download from Hyperion and never will; making me create yet -another- account is not appreciated thanks**- so I can't speak to theirs, just to e.g. Amazon music and other downloadables compared to their physical prices.
**If all my Amazon-related media (music, Kindle books) are destroyed and unusable after the company is dissolved in a monopoly lawsuit, say, I'll be a --bit-- cross but then might consider changing my mind as to the above, having one less "other" account, I suppose.
Quote from: eschiss1 on Tuesday 08 August 2023, 01:38If we're talking about YouTube, that point's been addressed multiple times, it feels like, and gets ignored each time.
No, I'm talking Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Tifal, Deezer, Qobuz and so on. THAT is the main place most people in the world use consume music these days. Few people buy physical media, far more buy subscriptions to their favorite streaming service.
Those are the places where people pay directly for music via subscriptions. But YT is without question the place where most people consume music, with over a billion music streams per day.
Quote from: Ilja on Tuesday 08 August 2023, 14:16Those are the places where people pay directly for music via subscriptions. But YT is without question the place where most people consume music, with over a billion music streams per day.
And free.
Ever get a free newspaper with lots of ads and wonder, "they don't get any subscriptions, how do they even get by?"
(I'm guessing not, because the answer is obvious- there.)
Again, I mentioned this thing people keep ignoring as though no one ever said it? Hrrrrrmmmm..,
An update here: I have it on good authority that Simon Perry is leaving or has now left the business as Artistic Director. What next?!
Update: subscribers to Amazon Music (and I assume other streaming services) no longer have to also have to subscribe to an additional service to access Hyperion recordings- at least some, those I've checked at any rate, are now available. -Not- complaining.
Universal is still issuing on Hyperion some interesting back catalog things that aren't top 10 Charts hitters, including, late in March, the world premiere commercial recording of an opera by Havergal Brian recorded late in 2023. Just because it's not in our bailiwick doesn't mean that they can expect to make a huge intake from that (but I'm glad they're doing it; I have a tape recording of a BBC broadcast of that opera based on Greek myth, but this is its first commercial outing.)