Robert v. Bahr (BIS) on the time needed to release a CD

[mjkFendrich]

Here is a quote from today's eClassical Daily Deal:

I remember that I participated in a discussion back in the '80:s of the long time between a recording and its release. I then, foolishly, said that it could be done in a matter of days, and was immediately challenged to prove the fact. So I decided to take up the glove and planned very carefully with all concerned, booklet author, printer, CD plant, orchestra, soloists etc to see how quickly a regular CD (not a live performance) could be recorded, edited, OK:ed, printed and pressed from end recording to actual appearance of the disc. Answer: 69 hours, but I can assure you - I didn't sleep a wink in those 75 hours between start of last day's recording until release. I won't repeat the process, that I can assure you of. Nevertheless, Bamberger Sinfoniker, Roland Pöntinen, piano and Leif Segerstam, conductor helped us with two of the most played concertos in the repertoire, Tchaikovsky 1 and Grieg, and they do it with all honour preserved. In spite of the speed, nothing has been left to chance (and this was in the time before internet, so we had to go to Salzburg from Bamberg in a car to deliver the master tape, having been edited on the spot in a hired studio). As I said - I won't do it again, but it was fun. RvB

Hopefully, cpo will take notice of this!

[Alan Howe]

One can hope. But don't be too hard on cpo - almost everything they record is unsung. We are immensely in their debt.

[Mark Thomas]

True, true. I suppose the problem isn't the delay between recording and release, or the rate of cpo's releases, it's that we know almost immediately that a recording has been made. Once an unsung work is broadcast on German radio then there's an expectation, founded on experience of course, that it will eventually be issued by cpo.

[eschiss1]

With representation of performances often sometimes first heard in radio broadcasts on BBC and I expect Australian Broadcasting too (and perhaps Concertzender?), of course - etc. though one sees your point, I think.

[eschiss1]

Near as I can tell, anyway, it differs. There are recordings where the sessions were taped in 1994 and the disc released later that same year (Roussel Chamber Music discs on Olympia, notes by the late Per Skans (now reissued as a box/quite inexpensive download (sans notes) on Brilliant Classics, tangentially)). 

I can think of some possible reasons for the delays that seem to be sometimes (often?) encountered by cpo, but they'd all be guesses on my part.