

Rachmaninov on the future of broadcasting (1931) - jeffreyrogers
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/rachmaninov-on-the-future-of-broadcasting

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__david__
I always think of Rachmaninov as a composer from "the olden days". I was
really excited when I discovered there were recordings of him playing his own
compositions. Just imagine if we had recordings of Bach or Mozart playing
their stuff. Having their written music is one thing (and a precious thing at
that), but having recordings would be so much more…

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eggoa
Yes, but the real treasure would be the improvisations. Beethoven was a
legendary improviser, and all those performances are completely lost (except
for phrases and ideas incorporated later into written compositions, from
memory).

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JasonFruit
I'm much more interested in his comments on recording than on broadcasting. I
love old recordings: Rachmaninov, Fritz Kreisler, Eugene Ysaÿe, all excite me
to hear. But the part that really fascinates me is to see my daughters
listening with enjoyment and understanding to a recording of someone who was
born 180 years before them. I'm often not a fan of the effects technology has
on our lives, but that's a real joy.

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coolandsmartrr
As fascinating as it sounds to listen to recordings by the composers
themselves, I fear these “authoritative” renditions would deprive performers
the room for interpretations.

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PhasmaFelis
It doesn't sound like he's talking about the "future" of broadcasting but the
present; specifically, that broadcast music in 1931 is worthless because the
reproduction quality is too poor. He doesn't say anything specific about the
future of broadcasting, but he seems fine with the idea of music reproduction
in general, so we can only assume that he would be happier with broadcast
music of a higher quality.

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pfunk
> 'On this account alone, I deplore the present depression in the gramophone
> industry. It is a curious fact that when I began working for H.M.V. ten
> years ago business was excellent, though only indifferent records were
> available. Yet to­day, when we have first­ class recording, business is
> worse than it has ever been. For this, I can only think that the universal
> craze for radio is to blame. '

He's blaming the recent success of radio for poor record sales in 1931. Much
like many were/are blaming streaming and youtube for the decline of record
sales now...

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__david__
Sure, but he's not lamenting the fact that his record sales are down, he's
annoyed that something with crap music quality (in his opinion) is supplanting
something with superior music quality.

Luckily, radio's gotten better since then. :-)

