"Independent Classical Labels Embrace a D.I.Y. Ethos"
The New York Times, December 21, 2008
From tomorrow's Arts & Leisure round-up of the year in culture, here's my essay on the continued proliferation of significant record labels run by artists, ensembles and composers. That such labels exist is nothing new, a point I'm sure is clear to all readers. But the quantity and quality of these releases continue to rise, and I figure this will remain the case pretty much indefinitely.
The essay includes shout-outs to three of the best examples. New Amsterdam Records, the vital young label formed by William Brittelle, Judd Greenstein and Sarah Kirkland Snider, also got a deserved plug in Allan Kozinn's year-end summary. The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's Arch Media put out two excellent download-only recordings conducted by David Robertson, featuring music by John Adams, Karol Szymanowski and Alexander Scriabin. (The label really ought to be prominently displayed on the SLSO.org splash page, I think.)
And the Boston Modern Orchestra Project's outstanding new BMOP/sound label issued no fewer than seven of the more interesting CDs to land on my desk this year, all but one of which featured performances conducted by Gil Rose (pictured above), the group's remarkable artistic director. The initial offering, John Harbison's Ulysses, made my year-end classical Top 10 in Time Out New York, a list I'll be sharing shortly. Another, Michael Gandolfi's Y2K Compliant, landed on Allan Kozinn's Times list.
That disc, as well as further volumes devoted to music by Lee Hyla (Lives of the Saints), Gunther Schuller (Journey into Jazz) and Charles Fussell (Wilde), made my very long short-list for Top 10 consideration. But in the end it was that fabulous Harbison CD that made the cut. You'll find Jeremy Eichler's characteristically swell May 2008 Boston Globe article about the launch of BMOP/sound here.
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